Big Bash League T20: Steve Smith stars as Sydney Sixers take nail-biter

Steve Smith

A high-quality innings from Steve Smith and some good bowling performance towards the end took Sydney Sixers to a thrilling seven-run win over the Hobart Hurricanes. Steve Smith played an excellent innings of 52 and helped Sixers post an imposing score of 179 runs on a good batting surface at Sydney.

Hobart Hurricanes were in the contest, but the loss of Owais Shah in the 16th over had an impact to Hurricanes’ chase and from there on, Hurricanes lost wickets regularly and finally ended up losing by a tiny margin.

Hurricanes started the chase well as the openers put on 98 runs off 10 overs. Sixers kept check on Hurricanes batsmen in the first couple of overs, but Tim Paine scored 21 runs off Lee’s second over which shifted the momentum towards Hurricanes. The momentum was not lost as Sixers bowlers completely were running out of ideas. They offered too much room for Dunk and Paine and did not stick to the plan.

Hurricanes were in control of the run-chase, but once Lyon started gripping the ball it became difficult to bat on. At the time, Hobart captain Paine would have felt that he gave too many runs in the last three overs when they were fielding. Nathan Lyon broke the partnership when he claimed the wicket of Tim Paine for a brilliant 57. Hobart subsequently lost another couple of wickets in the space of four overs which brought Sixers back into the game.

Steve Smith was clever as he had men in catching positions. Hobart Hurricanes had no choice but to consolidate the situation. They managed only 17 runs in the next two overs which added pressure to the rest of the batsmen. At the time, Hurricanes needed 32 runs off 18 balls which looked impossible. However, Hurricanes managed to score 11 runs off Hazelwood in the 19th over and brought the equation down to 14 runs off 6 balls.

With Brett Lee bowling the last over, it was a stiff task for the Hurricanes. Lee removed Shoaib Malik in the second over and followed up with the wicket of Laughlin to seal a thrilling win for Sixers.

Sydney Sixers have to give the credit to Steve Smith the way he batted. He played only one dot ball in his innings of 52 and his 77-run partnership with Silk helped Sixers post a formidable score. Both played a masterful innings as they didn’t play any ramp shots. The shot selection from both the batsmen was so good and managed to stay till the 20^th over off the match.

However the difference between the two sides is Sixers scored 48 runs in the last three overs; otherwise, Hurricanes would have fancied their chances.

Brief scores

Sydney Sixers 6 for 179 (Smith 52, Hilfenhaus 2-25)

beat Hobart Hurricanes 172 for 8 (Paine 57, Hazlewood 2-25) by seven runs