Needing a fourth-straight win in their last regular-season game to keep their finals hopes alive, a disappointing Thunder crashed to a heavy 77-run loss against the last-placed Adelaide Strikers.
Spinner Ish Sodhi was the star of the show, taking 6-11 off his three overs, with the Thunder dismissed for a paltry 101.
Strikers pair Ben Dunk (65 off 40 balls) and Kieron Pollard (47 off 22) laid the platform after the visitors had lost the toss, leading them to an imposing 178.
And while Thunder duo Kurtis Patterson (29 off 29) and Shane Watson (39 off 26) had the run chase off to a solid start, the rest of the batting line-up surrendered meekly.
The home side were still in the hunt until Sodhi cleaned up Ben Rohrer and Brathwaite, the latter armed with his famed lime green willow, in the space of four deliveries.
Two overs later, the Strikers claimed a team hat-trick, running out Ryan Gibson before Sodhi again bamboozled Jay Lenton and Arjun Nair.
Sodhi completed a six-wicket haul with the final two scalps to end the Thunder's season.
The Thunder lost their final eight wickets for 22 runs.
Not only did Brathwaite suffer the ignominy of lasting just two deliveries, but he also dropped Dunk when the opener was on eight.
The missed opportunity only served to spark the electric opener into gear, hitting his first six two balls later and then accelerating to his 50.
He rubbed salt into Brathwaite's wounds by bringing up his milestone with another maximum over the leaping West Indian at deep long off.
Together with captain Brad Hodge's 39 off 32, the pair put on 92 for the second wicket, however it was Kieron Pollard's late-hitting cameo that kicked the total to 178.
Brathwaite's fellow countryman smashed five sixes in his 47.
Young offspinner Chris Green was arguably the Thunder's best bowler, opening the innings with an economical 0-17 off three overs before rolling his ankle fielding.
Playing in just his third game for the Strikers, Sodhi was delighted to have contributed to a win.
"There was something in the surface for me. I should've used it from ball one," he said.
"But to have the confidence to use it in the second over that I bowled is really good and it worked out for me in the end... It was just my day."
A disappointed Watson said his team were outplayed in every facet of the match.
"Our fielding wasn't as good as it had been, the bowling we didn't execute as well," he said.
"The batting got off to a decent start, we just weren't able to capitalise. Myself and a couple of other top order batters, we needed to go on which we needed to when you're chasing a decent sized total."
