Expectations were sky-high when the two top sides of the BBL locked horns against each other at Carrara Oval in Queensland. And the game that followed did complete justice with the hype. The table-toppers Perth Scorchers and Sydney Sixer faced each other after some twist and turns in the original schedule. With the Brisbane Heats camp hit by COVID infections, the official decided to hold the match between the Sixers and Scorchers on Thursday.
Winning the bat-flip, the Scorchers went off to a rough start with the bat. With Cameron Bancroft falling prey in the start, Kurtis Patterson and Colin Munro played at a sluggish pace. The Sixers bowlers rarely bowled loose deliveries leaving the batters no room to accelerate. The dup put up a 48 ball 47 runs stand before the Sixers reduced them for 69-5 at 13 overs.
Aaron Hardie(45 runs off 24 balls) and Ashton Agar’s(29 runs off 20 balls) quickfire innings helped the Scorchers reach a decent total of 143-8. Left-arm pacer Hayden Kerr was the star with the ball with 4 wickets in 4 overs.
The Scorchers shocked the Sixers as the top order crumbled to 16-4 in 3.3 overs. Seasoned campaigner Dan Christian came to the rescue and stood like a rock at one crease.
After bringing up his fifty, the senior all-rounder unleashed his brutal hits to give his team a chance to chase the target. It was in the last delivery of the penultimate over, when slower one’s specialist Andrew Tye dismissed Christian off to a short-pitched delivery that went straight into the hands of Sabburg at extra-cover.
With Christian(73 runs off 61 balls) gone, the hopes of getting over the line for the Sixers looked impossible. Despite the match going down the wire, the Scorchers kept their calm and restricted the Sixers for 133-8. The victory by 10 runs helped the Scorchers consolidate their position at the top with the Sixers right behind them with 23 points. Aaron Hardie for his blast in the death overs got the Player of The Match award.
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