Sydney Sixers made a mess of an easy run chase against Perth Scorchers. Chasing 134, Daniel Christian turned out to be the lone warrior with the bat fighting it out till the penultimate over after a colossal batting collapse in powerplay overs.
Multiple early blows
New ball bowlers Lance Morris and Tymal Mills were lethal in the powerplay overs. Josh Philippe got out for a three-ball duck in the first over to Morris. In the second over, Jack Edwards fell to Mills. Skipper Moises Henriques fell cheaply on the last ball of third over after scoring just five runs. Mills inflicted more damage by getting his fellow countryman and opener James Vince in the fourth over as Sixers found themselves struggling at 16/4 in 3.3 overs.
All Christian show
The all-rounder was very cautious at the start of his innings in an attempt to do damage control. With Jordan Silk, Sixers managed just 25 runs in the first six overs. At the halfway stage, they were 41/4. He hit his first six in the 12th over but two quick wickets in the next over created more problems in the run chase.
The seventh-wicket partnership between Christian and Hayden Kerr was the most impactful one. The two took the game deep and kept the run chase alive. In the 17th over, Christian reached his half-century with a maximum off the 51st delivery he faced. He fired two more sixes in the 18th over which kept Scorchers on their toes. But the required run rate was too tough an ask for the 38-year-old. He lost his wicket to Andrew Tye on the fifth delivery of the 19th over. He scored 73 runs from 61 deliveries including five fours and four sixes.
Kerr remained unbeaten for 13 as Sixers lost the match by 10 runs, their second defeat of the season. For Scorchers, Mills and Tye took three wickets each whereas Morris took two.
Hardie saves Scorchers after middle overs collapse
After losing Cameron Bancroft early in the innings, Scorchers were struggling for boundaries with opener Kurtis Patterson and Colin Munro in the middle. As the dot ball pressure got to the two batters, Scorchers suffered a collapse in middle overs losing four wickets for just seven runs.
Christian was impressive with the ball too taking two wickets in the 11th over of the innings. First Patterson got out for 25-ball 27 and then Laurie Evans bagged a three-ball duck. Then Kerr got the wickets of Munro who was scored just 27 runs from 36 deliveries. The left-arm fast bowler followed it up with the wicket of skipper Ashton Turner for a three-ball duck.
Hardie helps Scorchers finish well
Coming in to bat at no.6 in 13th over, Aaron Hardie got his first boundary in the 15th over. In the next over Ben Dwarshuis took a beating as he was hit for three sixes including two off Ashton Agar’s bat and one off Hardie’s. After two quick wickets of Tye and Agar, Hardie targetted Kerr in the final over scoring 18 runs in the final over to get the total to 143/8. He got out off the final delivery of the innings. The 22-year-old scored 45 runs off 22 deliveries.
