Sydney Sixers 151 for 7 (Philippe 47, Silk 35, McAndrew 2-17) beat Sydney Thunder 132 (Warner 37, O’Keefe 3-13) by 19 runs
At 44 for 0 after the powerplay, Thunder were on track chasing 152. But Hales was felled by a delivery that barely bounced off O’Keefe’s round arm and then Cameron Bancroft missed one that went through the gate.
On a tricky surface, life became very difficult for Thunder and Warner was left trying to keep the innings together, but seriously stagnated: he had been 15 for 7 early on before finishing 37 for 39.
The Sixers’ seamers used the changes of pace to excellent effect and a key moment came when the dangerous Ollie Davies skied to cover shortly after hitting consecutive boundaries in the first of the power surge with Daniel Sams also falling within the restrictions of fielding.
Steve O’Keefe made vital progress•Getty Images and Cricket Australia
There was a great sense of disappointment among the crowd when Smith got his first ball and it landed in the hands of deep square leg. It’s not that he owed the Sixers too many runs, though, as he made 407 at 81.40 in his previous six appearances over the past two seasons.
James Vince and Josh Philippe built steadily from there, although only the latter was truly fluid. Vince went down when he crossed a pitch that stayed low from debutant Toby Gray. Moisés Henriques started brightly with two boundaries before reaching mid-on as the Sixers stuttered towards the halfway point.
Legspinner Tanveer Sangha was again very impressive, although his first Philippe wicket came with one of his worst deliveries when he clipped a short delivery to cover. Nathan McAndrew then shaved Jack Edwards’ off-stump.
But Jordan Silk proved his worth with 35 off 29 balls and Ben Dwarshuis cleared the rope in the final over to break the 150 mark. Not for the first time, it was enough for the Sixers.
