English star Sam Billings survives COVID scare to light up Manuka Oval as Sydney Thunder prove too good for Perth Scorchers

His sumptuous 67 from just 35 balls steered the Thunder to a much-needed Big Bash win while ending Perth's unbeaten start to the season, and came after being forced to isolate the day before the match.

The 30-year-old spent Christmas Day with a friend who subsequently returned a positive rapid antigen test result, classifying him as a casual contact.

Billings since returned two negative PCR tests, but drove to Canberra separately earlier this week and was even forced into his own changeroom at Manuka throughout the contest on Tuesday.

"All my rapid antigen tests were also negative but I didn't want to risk anything, the team bus coming down to Canberra is a four hour bus journey, if someone has COVID on that then it could be a real issue," Billings said.

"I just thought I'd do the right thing, I drove down on my own last night and just adhered to all the protocols, had my own changeroom, et cetera.

"Maybe a bit of isolation did me good. I can't deal with any more isolation, I'm done with that, I've done maybe the most in world cricket in the last year or so."

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Billings contracted COVID-19 back in July, and has been living in a traveling bubble for almost two years as a professional cricketer.

It's created a relentless strain on his cricket, but the wicketkeeper batsman appears to have rediscovered his best form this summer.

"The key thing for me, the great thing is I'm playing cricket now," Billings said.

"I'm 30 years old, I've been in bubbles for the last two years, and not played a whole heap of cricket. I've sat on the bench running a lot of drinks, for me I just need to play cricket, for my head space more than anything.

"There's only so much running of the drinks I can do. For me I'm loving my cricket at the moment, I'm loving scoring runs that's what I'm here to do."

Billings' fine knock helped the Thunder post 7-200 after being sent in to bat first - the highest score any side has put on the Scorchers this season.

He and young gun Jason Sangha (56 not out) combined for 113 runs in a brilliant third-wicket stand, broken by Andrew Tye who had Billings caught behind by Josh Inglis.

That kickstarted one of the most bizarre overs in Big Bash history, which ultimately led to Tye being pulled out of the attack by the umpire.

His first ball to the new batsman Alex Ross was a full toss over waist height, which constituted a no ball and a free hit. Tye's next ball was a wide, and his third ball to Ross was again full and above waist height giving the umpires no choice but to ban him from the attack.

"I thought it was far enough away from the body, the umpire explained to me if it's within a foot of the body it's deemed dangerous," Tye said.

"Looking at it on the replay he's probably correct. It's one of those heat of the moment things, you're always disappointed you've let the team down and let the boys down especially the boy that's got to come back in and bowl to a free hit on no notice.

"You're trying to execute 100 per cent of the time and sometimes you get it wrong."

Tye hit back with the bat, bludgeoning 44 runs off 25 balls during an entertaining, late-order 55-run stand with New Zealander Colin Munro (64 not out), but it wasn't enough to let the Scorchers overhaul the home side's mammoth total.

It was the Scorchers' first loss this summer after winning six straight, despite being forced to spend the season on the road due to Western Australia's iron border with the rest of the country.

"We don't complain about it we just get on with it, it's our job to play on the field not dispute about borders or anything like that," Tye said.

"We don't try to focus on that - we've not really spoken of it. We're just handling it well as a group."