With Tom Curran, Stephen O’Keefe, Ben Manenti, and Chris Jordan all gone or missing through injury it was time for the true depth of the Sydney Sixers side to be tested against a Sydney Thunder team in good form.
Daniel Sams was on song early, despite Josh Phillipe playing a scoop over fine leg to give his innings some impetus for the second game in a row, unfortunately this time it didn’t pay off with the Sixers wicketkeeper gone for the unlucky number of 13, caught off the bowling of Daniel Sams.
Sams then picked up the wicket of James Vince who showed that he might slowly be gaining some form with a steady 31. Moises Henrique’s ultra-aggressive approach didn’t pay off for the Sixers with Thunder captain Chris Green having the last laugh in the duel between the two skippers. But there is a very good reason why the Sixers have arguably the best top six in the Big Bash and that is for one simple reason; if one or two batsmen fail, the rest tend to stand up and pick up the slack.
On Boxing Night this was Daniel Hughes and Dan Christian.
Both had been short of runs and with the Sixers under pressure it was the perfect time to stand up. Whilst the handy contributions of both as well as a cameo of 18 off 12 balls from Jordan Silk came as no surprise, what I was really impressed by was Daniel Hughes’ ability to play spin. The left-hander hit promising young leg-spinner, Tanveer Sangha, for back-to-back sixes on his way to a 50 off just 26 balls, including five maximums. Dan Christian then wound back the clock, finishing with 41 not out off 17 balls, helping the Sixers to a very competitive 4/168 in a rain-affected 16 over a side match.
After an expensive outing against the Strikers in his last game, Ben Dwarshuis was back to his best claiming the key scalps of Matt Gilkes and Ben Cutting before they inflicted too much damage on the scoreboard. Hayden Kerr was again amongst the wickets picking up three, whilst Lloyd Pope was expensive but did his part picking up dangerous middle order pair Sam Billings and Alex Ross cheaply. Sean Abbott was also in the wickets whilst Daniel Sams’ (28 off 11 balls) and Jason Sangha’s (47 off 30 balls) demonstrated that the Thunder were still in the fight.
What do you think sets the Sydney Sixers apart from other teams in the competition? Let us know in the comments section below.
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