BBL 15: Sixers steamroll Hurricanes; Thunders steal a victory over the Stars

Pietersen’s knock went in vain as Stars lost again

Sydney Sixers annihilated the Hobart Hurricanes by 95 runs and in contrast, the Thunders got home by a solitary run in the first double header of the Big Bash League 2015.

Match 4: Sydney Sixers vs Hobart Hurricanes

Earlier in the day, Brad Haddin got the Sixers off to an absolute flyer smashing 75 runs of merely 45 deliveries. Jordan Silk provided the finishing touches scoring a quick-fire 40 as the Sixers ended up with 186 runs for the loss of 7 wickets in their 20 overs.

For the Hurricanes, Cameron Boyce stood out with figures of 4-0-25-2 ably supported by Dan Christian who gave away 24 runs in his 4 overs.

Nothing went right for the Hurricanes right from the inception of their innings with Nathan Lyon accounting for captain Tim Paine and the dangerous Kumar Sangakkara in the very first over. They never really recovered from the early setback, skittling out for 91.

Things would have been even worse had it not been for George Bailey who waged a lone battle ending up unbeaten on 62. The extras were the second highest ‘run scorer’ with 7 to their name. Number 11 Shaun Tait was next with 5 which gives enough indication as to how sorry the Hurricane scorecard turned out to be.

Nathan Lyon was by far the pick of the bowlers, picking up a rare five-fer in the shortest format of the game. He dismissed the last man Tait to end up with mouth-watering figures of 3.5-0-23-5. All of his wickets were out caught inside the 30-yard circle.

Brief Scores: Sydney Sixers (toss) 186/7 (Haddin 72, Boyce 2/25) beat Hobart Hurricanes 91 (Bailey 62*, Lyon 5/23) by 95 runs.

Match 5: Melbourne Stars vs Sydney Thunder

Elsewhere, a sublime Usman Khawaja, returning to competitive cricket after a torn hamstring smashed an unbeaten century, the first of the current season. Riding on the back of his 109*, the Thunders posted an above par 180 on the board. Andre Russell came out second best with 22 runs to his name.

Boland was the pick of the bowlers for Stars, finishing with figures of 3-0-18-1.

The affair was a proud one for the Hussey family with both brothers captaining their respective sides. Both, however, had forgettable outings on the field, with Mike scoring 16 and David getting out for a duck.

The Stars started out on a very positive note with the openers scoring 48 runs at the end of the 5th over. Russell however, turned the game on its head, dismissing both openers off successive deliveries.

Reeling at 4-80, the game looked all but out for the stars but English superstar Kevin Pietersen had ideas of his own. Ably supported by ‘the finisher’ James Faulkner, the duo hammered a scintillating 84 run partnership, mostly dominated by some thunderous stroke play by KP before he got out in the penultimate over after seemingly ensuring he had taken his side home.

With 10 needed off the final over and 5 wickets in hand with the well set James Faulkner on strike, it was up to the veteran Jacques Kallis to deliver the goods. The calm, steady batsman took three doubles of the first three to get the match down to a precarious position for either side.

Two successive dots by Kallis meant a tiring Faulkner needed to score a boundary off the last delivery. However, he could only mow the short of a length delivery to cow corner for a couple as the Thunder sealed off an improbable victory by a solitary run.

For the Stars, KP was the star performer, scoring 76 runs of a mere 42 deliveries. This was also the first time in his career he has scored 1000 T20 runs in a year. Faulkner chipped in with an important 45*, but it wasn’t enough to carry his side home.

For the Thunders, the big man Andre Russell was the pick of the bowlers, ending with figures of 4-0-28-2.

Brief Scores: Sydney Thunder 178/6 (Khawaja 109*, Boland 1/18) beat Melbourne Stars (toss) 177/5 (Pietersen 76, Russell 2/28) by 1 run.