And there was a local flavour to the victory.

A total of 10,862 cricket fans packed in to watch the Thunder successfully chase a target of 143, ending their innings 2-144, with man of the match Matthew Gilkes' unbeaten 74 off 55 guiding Sydney to a decisive win.

Renegades BBL debutant bowler Corey Rocchiccioli (2-25) rocked the Thunder in the run chase with two wickets from two balls in his first over, that had dangerman David Warner out for 26, and Sydney's leading run-scorer Ollie Davies out for a golden duck.

But Thunder opener and Weston District junior Gilkes and vice-captain and former ACT Comets junior Alex Ross (40 not-out) steered the Sydney side to the target total, putting them in a great position to make the BBL finals.

"Canberra holds a special place in my heart," Gilkes told The Canberra Times.

"I played a lot of cricket here from 16 till I was 18, for ACT/NSW Country and played in the Premier Cricket comp.

"There's always great support here but with some family and friends here it was great to get some runs in front of them."

The Thunder now move into fourth on the BBL ladder, on equal points behind third-placed Renegades, with the finals within reach.

Even with Warner likely to play his last game for the Thunder this season in their next clash against the Sixers, the team have the belief they can go all the way.

"It's good to get a victory like that and it builds momentum," Warner said.

"I'm hoping to play as much as I can before I go. We have a good bowling line-up and strong hitting, we just have to keep having mature knocks in the middle.

"We're going to see some good stars of the future coming out."

Earlier three final over sixes by Will Sutherland (42 not-out) helped the Renegades tail wag to 9/142 and a defendable total after the Thunder bowlers and sharp fielding efforts punished their middle order.

It was an undisciplined start with three wides and a dropped catch in the opening over from the men in green.

Despite the expensive start, Sydney didn't let Jake Fraser-McGurk get away with a mistimed shot twice as David Warner's safe hands sent him packing two overs later for just five runs.

Sam Harper didn't last long as next man up for Melbourne, with a neat catch by Chris Green off an Usman Qadir (2-20) slow-ball poked to short extra cover.

Martin Guptill's strikerate kept runs ticking over for Melbourne, but with wickets falling a stand with bit-hitting Aaron Finch was needed.

However Guptill (30 runs) and Finch (22 runs) weren't able to go on to convert their confident starts, with the latter a tad unlucky after an unsuccessful LBW review that came down to the umpire's original call, giving Usman his second wicket of the night.

Jonathan Wells was caught out an over after Finch's dismissal, as the Thunder smelt blood in the water at 5-85.

Lazy running between wickets by Matthew Critchley (12 runs) and a dart by Nathan McAndrew kept the pressure on Melbourne, and former ACT Comet Tom Rogers scored just four runs off five balls, before Sutherland lifted in the final three overs.

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