Phew! A fine game of cricket ends and the Sixers stamp their authority again! Successive titles for them. And with this, it is the end of the 10th edition of the BBL. 61 matches and Moises Henriques men win the trophy at the SCG! That's all from our end. We would like to thank you for your company throughout the tournament. For now, it is goodbye from our end. Cheers and take care!
And the skipper lays his hands on the trophy and the entire team joins him on the podium. Sydney Sixers are the champions, AGAIN!
Moises Henriques, the Sixers skipper, says that coming home and having the fans cheering for the team was big. Adds it gives them extra legs. Thanks the fans for coming and supporting them. Says they have had great performance over the years. Tells that all the members of the team have contributed to them in the entire tournament. Says that they have a lot of respect for the Scorchers. Feels they play tough cricket and fight hard till the end. Adds that it was a great effort from them to get this far. Thanks everyone who have worked hard to make the tournament a success. Also thanks the umpires, the groundstaff.
Perth Scorchers' skipper Ashton Turner, credits the Sixers for the performance. Tells they want to come back next year and have a crack again. Says both the teams did superbly throughout the season and it was exciting to have the two best teams play the final. Thanks Cricket Australia, the Scorchers management team and the crowd. Wishes the champions before signing off.
James Vince is named Player of the Match for his fantastic knock. He starts by saying that he has enjoyed his time in the tournament. Tells that he is pleased with his contributions in the last two games but adds that he couldn't have done it without the support from all the men. Praises everyone who are involved from behind the door for the team. Ends by saying that he is grateful to the entire unit.
Josh Philippe is named Player of the Match. Tells that he is really happy with the win. Says it was exciting for them throughout. Adds that the Sixers have been lucky to have a few good overseas players. Tells he is looking forward to his next assignment in New Zealand.
Big Carlos Brathwaite is caught for a chat! He says that this was a massive win. Tells that when he got the call from the franchise, he was eager to join the team. Says everyone made him feel special. Praises the management for putting things in place during these tough times.
Earlier in the game, on the back of a fantastic knock from Vince, the Sixers posted a big score after being asked to do so. Vince fell 5 short of a well-deserved ton but the contributions from the other batters meant that they had a massive score on the board. The Scorchers failed to strike regularly with the ball. Eventually, the total they conceded was too big for them to chase down.
Things didn't start all that well for the Sixers. Bancroft went bang, bang and attacked from the start. However, they pulled things back nicely. It was Bird who provided them the breakthrough. Bird also removed the dangerous Livingstone. Dwarshuis did the trick for the Men in Magenta in the Power Surge as he took 2 wickets, which included the big wicket of Mitchell Marsh. Abbott was taken apart in his first over but he did the job with the wicket of Turner. One of the most experienced men of the tournament, Daniel Christian did the job with the ball again. He used all his experience with the ball and delivered for the team. Sixers will not forget to thanks another experienced bowler, O'keefee, who bowled 4 tight overs and didn't allow the opposition to go big. So, overall, a collective bowling performance from them to bag the title.
Chasing the score, the Scorchers started well. Bancroft and Livingstone added 45 for the opening wicket. However, once Bancroft fell, things slowed down. Munro followed him soon and Livingstone couldn't get going. He fell for 45 and took 35 balls for that. The asking rate kept creeping up. Under pressure, all the batters came and went for the big shots. They were decent enough in the chase but ever since they took the Power Surge, things went bad to worse for them. They could add only 11 runs in the 2 overs and lost 2 important wickets. After that, Hardie played a few lusty shots but he couldn't continue either. And eventually, they went down, falling well short of the target.
It is celebration time for the Sixers! And what a special moment for these men, doing it in front of their home crowd. What a victory for the Sixers. They bag their second title in a row and third overall.
Over 20
0
0
W
1
W
1
Jhye Richardson*
7 (7)
Fawad Ahmed
0 (0)
Daniel Christian
2/25 (4)
SCO
161/9
1
19.6
Daniel Christian to Jhye Richardson ,SIXERS ARE CHAMPION! Consecutive titles for the Men in Magenta. The last ball again is the slower one. Richardson hits it to deep mid-wicket for a single. Nothing matters now. Sixers are the champion. They win by 27 runs.
Fawad Ahmed is the last man in.
W
19.5
Daniel Christian to Jason Behrendorff ,OUT! CAUGHT! Another one bites the dust. Number 9 goes down. It is once again the slower one from Christian. Behrendorff looks to hammer it over long on. He fails to connect it well and ends up hitting it straight to Abbott. Sixers celebrate again. Just a ball away from the win.
1
19.4
Daniel Christian to Jhye Richardson ,Short ball, pulled towards long on for a single.
Jason Behrendorff is in now.
W
19.3
Daniel Christian to Andrew Tye ,OUT! CAUGHT! Christian gets the wicket now. He deserves it. He has bowled so well in this game. Another change of pace ball. It is fullish and around off, Tye wants to send it down to Perth. He ends up miscuing it off the toe end. Henriques at cover settles under it and takes the skier.
0
19.2
Daniel Christian to Andrew Tye ,This time Christian bowls it full and wide outside off, Tye cannot touch the ball again.
0
19.1
Daniel Christian to Andrew Tye ,Lovely stuff from the big man. Slower and a bit short. Tye looks to pull but the ball never arrived. He misses to get hit on the pad.