Sydney Sixers 126 for 1 (Perry 82*) beat Sydney Thunder 123 (Knight 38, Litchfield 34, Gardner 4-26) by nine wickets
Sydney Thunder had to undertake a hurried cross-country journey in their bid to reach the WBBL final after losing to local rivals Sixers at the SCG.
Thunder will now face Brisbane Heat in the Playoff on Tuesday at the WACA before the winner faces Perth Scorchers a day later in a bid to play Adelaide Strikers in next Saturday’s final.
Such is the condensed nature of the schedule, Thunder players boarded a bus to the airport immediately after the Sixers game concluded to catch a five-hour flight to Perth and ensure they had a day to prepare in the city on Monday.
The Thunder’s regular season has come to an end after they were well positioned to challenge for first place a couple of weeks ago. Instead, five losses in their last six games have allowed them to cling to fourth place, meaning they (and the Heat) will have to win three games to take the title.
“Obviously we’re going to have to do things the hard way now with a flight there and win three games to try to win it. We have to leave what happened at the end of the group stage and move on.”
Against the Sixers, in front of a crowd of 7,118 to complete three days of matches at major stadiums, a batting collapse proved costly as the Thunder lost their last eight wickets for 39, including their last five in the space of 11 balls.
Thunder thought they had broken through early when Sam Bates had Suzie Bates lbw, but DRS showed there had been a thin bottom edge on the sweep.
From there, an opening stand of 59, dominated by Perry, laid the foundation for the chase before Bates fell to a brilliant Tahlia Wilson hit down the leg side. But Perry dropped to 44 balls fifty and finished the game in an avalanche of boundaries, leaving Thunder to collect their already packed bags and head straight to the airport.
