Sydney Sixers 151 for 3 (Henriques 52*, Zampa 1-21) beat Melbourne Stars 150 for 5 (Webster 78, Kerr 2-26) by seven wickets
On a surface with inconsistent bounce and pace, Sixers’ chase of 151 was not easy but Henriques wound back the clock to steer the home side to victory with five balls to spare.
Henriques returns to form
Sixers’ slow start to the season has been mostly due to their misfiring batting order. Kurtis Patterson and James Vince were keen to make amends with promising starts but they fell in quick succession to leave Sixers shakily placed at 3 for 63 at the midway point.
For years, Henriques has been a fulcrum for powerhouse Sixers but he entered the match with consecutive golden ducks. In a relief, he scored off his first delivery as his trademark composure returned to anchor Sixers’ chase.
Henriques accelerated in the back end and notched his half-century with a six in the penultimate over to effectively ice the game. It was the first half-century this season by a Sixers batter.
Stars rue sloppy fielding
There was a lot of intrigue over how Stars’ attack would respond after conceding the third-highest BBL total in their big defeat against Perth Scorchers.
Coach David Hussey was scathing of his team’s attitude and with his criticisms ringing in their ears, Stars’ attack produced a much better effort but it wasn’t enough. The bowlers weren’t helped by sloppy fielding and will particularly rue a missed slumping by Joe Clarke off Zampa to reprieve Henriques in the 15th over.
O’Keefe battles through hamstring injury
But disaster struck when O’Keefe later in the over clutched at his right hamstring and had to go off the field for treatment. He made a quick return but was clearly hampered, trudging around in the field.
O’Keefe mustered all his experience to bowl accurately amid obvious pain and he clearly remains a pivotal part of Sixers’ attack. They will sweat over the severity of his hamstring injury.
Webster anchors shorthanded Stars
Stars suffered a major blow with Marcus Stoinis rested for the clash to further weaken a batting order already without Glenn Maxwell and Joe Burns to long-term injuries
After being sent in, Stars were in big trouble at 2 for 8 and they needed Clarke to fire with the ‘keeper-batter the only player to have hit a century this season.
He looked the goods when he smashed wayward seamer Sean Abbott for two sixes in the third over before falling for 27.
It was left to Webster, who had threatened this season for a big score without capitalising. On this occasion, he was up to the task with a mature knock to dig Stars out of trouble.
Webster initially mostly played along the ground before launching a huge six over square leg off seamer Hayden Kerr to hit the roof.
With his confidence rising, Webster made his move in the 17th and 18th overs as Stars scored 24 runs during the power surge.
In his 47th BBL innings, Webster went past 1000 career runs and along the way notched his career best score of 78 off 51 balls to power Stars to a competitive total but it ultimately wasn’t enough.
Tristan Lavalette is a journalist based in Perth