Perth Scorchers 4 for 136 (Turner 52*, Abbott 3-28) beat Sydney Sixers 132 (Maddinson 31, Tye 4-21) by six wickets
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A poor batting performance from the Sydney Sixers resulted in a comfortable six-wicket win for the Perth Scorchers
There is a reason the Perth Scorchers have won three BBL titles, out of six.
Even without Australia’s previous T20I new-ball pairing in Nathan Coulter-Nile and Jason Behrendorff, the Scorchers still fronted up at the SCG with an attack featuring five international players and blew away the Sydney Sixers’ top order, including a hat-trick from Andrew Tye, to set up a comfortable six-wicket win.
The chase wobbled early without the experienced Michael Klinger. But the composure of Ashton Turner and Adam Voges turned potential disaster into a doddle with an unbeaten 70-run stand from just 38 balls to see the Scorchers home with 11 balls to spare.
Sixers slump early
For as well as the Scorchers bowled, some of the Sixers batsmen contributed to their own demise after having been sent in to bat on a good surface.
Daniel Hughes wiped across a straight half volley and lost his off stump. Jason Roy looked in sublime touch until he bunted a slower ball that he hit straight to midwicket. Both batsmen fell to Jhye Richardson.
Henriques was unfortunate to glove one down the leg side off David Willey. Billings made a strange decision to walk down the wicket off the first ball he faced from Tye only to meekly pop a leading edge to square leg.
Willey bowled Botha with a slower ball that gripped past his outside edge and clipped the top of off leaving the Sixers in trouble.
Tye’s hat-trick of hat-tricks
Nic Maddinson and Peter Nevill were forced to consolidate to avert further disaster. Their 37-run stand never really exploded. Voges brought back Mitchell Johnson to bowl his fourth over in the 14th over. He removed both set batsmen in three balls.
Sean Abbott and Steve O’Keefe threatened to push the total towards 150. But Tye dashed those hopes with his third T20 hat-trick this calendar year, ending the innings at 132 with eight balls remaining.
Top-order wobble for inexperienced Scorchers
The Scorchers chase took a while to get going. Debutants Will Bosisto and Josh Philippe put together a 31-run partnership at just above a run-a-ball. The run-rate dropped well below six when both were dismissed to Abbott in the fifth over. Willey and Hilton Cartwright also struggled to score freely. In total, the Scorchers’ top four faced 29 dot balls from the first 71 deliveries. When Cartwright fell to Doug Bollinger, the Scorchers still need 67 from 49 balls.
Cool and calm in the end
Turner and Voges never panicked. They calculated that boundaries were difficult to find early so they elected to place balls into gaps and run twos to get the run-rate moving. They pinched three twos in an over from O’Keefe with just nudges to the 30-yard circle at a vacant midwicket to take nine from his fourth over after he had conceded just 14 from his first three.
Turner then used his long reach to target Daniel Sams and Abbott. He struck five sixes to break the back of the chase. His boundary to win the game also took him to 52 not out from just 27 balls.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo