Vince’s classy century leads Sydney Sixers to record chase

AAP

26-Dec-2024 • 2 hrs ago

Sydney Sixers 198 for 2 (Vince 101*) beat Melbourne Stars 194 for 9 (Duckett 68, Bird 3-35)

James Vince‘s blazing century helped Sydney Sixers pull off one of the most dominant BBL chases ever, hauling in 195 with 11 balls to spare to beat the hapless Melbourne Stars.

In a display of power and precision, Vince hit 101 from 58 balls at the SCG to win the battle of the Brits over the equally hard-hitting Ben Duckett.

The successful chase was the eighth biggest ever in the 14-year history of the BBL, and the biggest in any match at the SCG. It also kept Melbourne Stars winless after four games with their finals hopes fading fast, while Sixers remain undefeated after three matches.

But for stages on Boxing Day, the Stars appeared the team on top in front of a crowd of 23,212.

Duckett was all power for the visitors, bringing his blend of Bazball to the Big Bash with 68 from 29 balls. England’s destroyer became only the second player in BBL history to hit six fours in an over, unleashing a flurry of pull shots and reverse sweeps off spinner Akeal Hosein.

He also took to fellow spinner Todd Murphy, launching a big slog-sweep for six to bring up his half-century off 22 balls.

Jackson Bird copped similar treatment with two straight fours and a six on the next ball, before having the left-handed opener caught at deep third man.

Glenn Maxwell also hit 32 off 17 for the Stars, who were at one stage 126 for 3 after 10.2 overs before Murphy and Ben Dwarshuis pegged them back.

And while the Stars took only 16 from their two power surge overs and fell away late, Sixers did the opposite with the bat.

After Josh Philippe and Vince put on 83 for the first wicket inside eight overs, the hosts went even quicker in the second half of their innings. Jordan Silk and Vince took 35 off their two power surge overs from Peter Siddle and Maxwell, with Vince in particular going after the latter.

He hit four sixes in total, with two coming off Maxwell, one deep over midwicket off Tom Curran and another when he hit fingerspinner Doug Warren inside out over cover.

The opener reached the rope another 12 times in his knock, registering more boundaries than he did dot balls to keep the Sixers’ chase well and truly on track.

The 57-ball century made Vince only the second player to bring up three figures in Sixers colours, after narrowly missing out a hundred in the 2021 final.