BBL6 Game 32 Recap - Melbourne Stars v Sydney Sixers @ MCG
Melbourne Stars 8/156 (20 Overs) Defeated By Sydney Sixers 7/159 (18.4 Overs)
Sixers Sneak Into Finals
The Sydney Sixers have snuck their way through the back door of the BBL finals after a thrilling 3 wicket victory over the Melbourne Stars at the MCG on Saturday. In front of over 40,000 fans The Sixers looked in deep trouble at 6/97 in the 15th over before the magnificent 59 run partnership between Johan Botha (25) and Sean Abbott (33n/o) saw them over the line. The Sixers victory, spelt bad news for the Renegades who were eliminated from the competition after watching their cross town rivals blow a game they controlled for long periods. The Sixers victory sees them sneak into 4th place and sets up a explosive semi final against the Heat at The Gabba on Tuesday Night. The Stars had looked control of the game for long periods as Robert Quiney continued his sparkling form getting off to a flying start while Luke Wright (62) struck the ball well for his half century. The Stars let slip an opportunity to host a Semi Final with some poor death batting and bowling. The Stars now face a road trip to Perth to take on the Scorchers in the 2nd semi final on Wednesday Night.
Botha And Abbott Play Contrasting Roles
It was great to watch this partnership between Sean Abbott and Johan Botha and how they played to their own strengths. Abbott is a very dangerous batsman coming in at number 8 however he rarely gets a chance to showcase his talents. Here he kept things very simple by taking advantage of anything in the slot laughing into a series of powerful drives. abbott was also able to really line up a couple of short balls and seemed to outbox the likes of Ben Hilfenhaus and Scott Boland having handle on what they were going to bowl. Botha is a fiery competitor and a great man to have coming in in this sort of tense situation. He started with some little cuts and ramps making it a nightmare for a captain to set a field for him. He then intelligently used the larger square boundaries to hustle back for 2s frustrating Michael Beer and the Stars bowlers. Botha and Abbott made what was a daunting final 6 overs looked easy as they punished 58 in little more then 5 overs to seal a final spot for their side. With this sort of depth in the Sixers batting order if they can get more contributions from their big guns they will be hard to beat.
Stars Baffling Batting Order
I have spoken about momentum swings at length in BBL6 and last night that moment came late in the Stars innings. I was baffled why they sent in Seb Gotch and Evan Gulbis ahead of David Hussey, and it completely changed the direction of the Stars' innings. From 1/130 at the start of the 16th over, the Stars slumped to 4/131 and staggered their way through the final four overs to reach 8/156. Earlier in the night, it was Nathan Lyon that turned the night around as his 2/18 from 4 overs stalled the Stars momentum as they collapsed from 1/131 to 8/156 leaving them with an under par score. The Stars have plenty of problems with their batting heading into the finals, with far too much onus on the Top 3 of Wright, Quiney and Pietersen to score runs. With the likes of Maxwell, Faulkner and Handscomb unavailable, I think they are in trouble heading into their semi-final in Perth. Even with the Top 3 scoring runs, the Stars can't seem to get over the line and are putting plenty of pressure on their bowling line to defend sub-par totals.
Sixers Can Rise To The Occasion
The Sixers have played some wildly inconsistent cricket throughout BBL6, however just managed to do enough to scrape through to the finals. They have a lot of big match performers, and I would not be surprised in the slightest if the likes of Moises Henriques, Nic Maddinson and Brad Haddin fire, when it matters most, in the knock out stages. Maddinson and Henriques have been below par with the bat, however have often come up big in the crunch games. I think they will give Brisbane a real contest, having already won at the Gabba this season. The Sixers chased down a score of 187 against a Heat attack that can a little bit erratic and lacks experience. The Sixers know how to get the job done on the road in big games, having won a BBL title in Perth and won a Champions League title in Perth. I don't know if they are good enough to win two road games and claim BBL6, but I would not be writing them off, and wouldn't be surprised if they put together their best performance of the season on Tuesday night.
Lurker Searching For Answers
The Lurker has been out of sorts in 2017 and that continued here as the Stars collapsed late to leave him scratching his head once more. The Lurker has taken the Stars every single game this year, so I might have to buy him a Stars membership for his next birthday. The Lurker finishes the regular season at 19-13 with three big final's games to come.