The Thunder’s WBBL finals hopes have taken a huge hit after a farcical decision to call the game off with them needing just three runs for victory robbed them of what would have been a crucial competition point.

The visitors were 0-43 off 2.5 overs and were moments away from chasing down Adelaide’s total of 2-45 off their five overs in a rain-shortened match before the umpires made the call for ground staff to come onto the field.

Heavy rain threatened to force players from the field in the second over, but conditions eased greatly when the call was made for the game to be abandoned.

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Thunder players and coaches appeared confused and frustrated with the decision that leaves them three points behind fourth place going into Sunday’s Sydney derby.

“I’m a bit disappointed,” Thunder captain Phoebe Litchfield told Channel Seven after the game having blasted eight boundaries in her unbeaten knock of 38 off 15 balls.

“It’s a shame. The fact that we got on and it was a really entertaining game…it’s pretty disappointing that we didn’t have a full game.

“Both the Strikers and us needed a win so we were pretty keen to get the two points (when we discussed the weather before the game).

“The ground staff did an amazing job to get the ground up and running. For all that work, it’s disappointing to not get a result.

“It’s cricket at the end of the day. It’s a weird game we play.”

The commentators were more scathing in reaction.

“Surely not … you’ve got to be joking,” Katey Martin said.

Alister Nicholson said: “No, no, this is farcical.

“That is an utter embarrassment that’s taken place here. There is not a drop of rain at the moment. That game was within a whisker of being determined, the result was completely clear, and the Sydney Thunder have been robbed of victory.”

Former Thunder captain Callum Ferguson added: “I’m absolutely blown away. It’s actually embarrassing for the game. I cannot believe we’ve gone through what we did, what the curating staff did out there to get us ready for the contest was extraordinary, and stuff we haven’t seen before. They were dumping water left, right and centre, getting the Super Soppers out there manually and cleaning up.

“To go through all of that and play through so much rain in those 10 overs, to then get to the point where we’re within one strike of getting a result in this fixture, with all the fans in the stands, all the fans watching around the country, I’m disappointed for so many people in this situation, it’s really disappointing to see the game let itself down like this.”

Strikers captain Tahlia McGrath spoke with the umpires about calling the game off. Picture: Sarah Reed/Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images

There were genuine fears that the game would be abandoned after heavy rain in Adelaide washed out the Heat’s clash with the Sixers earlier in the day.

But ground staff did well to salvage a shortened contest with play getting underway after a two-hour delay.

Strikers opener Laura Wolvaardt (22 off 13) got the innings off to a flyer before skipper Tahlia McGrath (12 off six) whacked a couple of boundaries in the final over to give them something to defend.

THUNDERSTRUCK

That should’ve been a tricky target given Adelaide’s quality attack, but Litchfield made a mockery of the chase to celebrate her big pay day at the WPL auction with brutal barrage of boundaries,

Litchfield took 22 runs off the second over, with the opener blasting four boundaries off the first four balls of Darcie Brown’s over.

The Aussie star went for $206,000 at the auction and justified the big money with a knock that didn’t get the result it deserved.