Maxwell and Steketee heroicshelp Stars dispatch high-flying Sixers to blow table wide open

Asked to bat first, Ben Duckett got Melbourne Stars to a high-flying start by pummelling a boundary and a maximum in Akeal Hosein’s opening over. However, Jack Edwards seized back the momentum for the Sydney Sixers by dispatching Sam Harper after a short six-ball stay before Sean Abbott made it a double whammy by removing Duckett on the penultimate ball of the powerplay to leave the hosts reeling at 27/2. Hayden Kerr and Sean Abbott capitalized on the stranglehold established t make the two-tohereon to get rid of Dan Lawrence and Marcus Stoinis for cheap and leave the the scorecard reading 64/4 at the halfway mark of the innings. Beau Webster, who had been watching the wickets tumble at the other end, thus decided to play anchor with the explosive Glenn Maxwell now at the other end. The Stars skipper was nearly on his way on the second ball of his innings with his heave seemingly travelling straight into Kurtis Patterson’s hands but the fielder managed to somehow parry the ball across the ropes in a moment that went on to define the encounter. Maxwell opted for the Power Surge in the 13th over and managed to extract 33 runs from the two overs along with Webster and did not look back from there. The captain brought up a 26-ball half-century with a maximum off Ben Dwarshuis albeit Webster fell two short of the landmark as he fell victim to Abbott in a 19th over worth a solitary run that helped restrict the Stars to 156/6.

In response, tight new ball spells from Mark Steketee and Peter Siddle begot the former the wicket of Josh Phillippe for a less-than-run-a-ball eight in the final over of the powerplay, at the end of which the score of 27/1. James Vince and Kurtis Patterson combined thereafter to stabilize the innings, the duo content in finding the occassional boundary and rotating strike. However, with Patterson struck plumb by Usama Mir in the ninth over, the pressure kept mounting and the required run-rate shot past nine and a half with seven overs to go even as Vince bought up his fifth consecutive half-century against the Stars. Henriques finally deicde to take the aid of the Power Surge in the 14th over, a move that heavily backfired. Stoinis got rid of both the incumbent batters in the space of three deliveries before Peter Siddle scalped Jordan Silk two balls later to make the two-over surge score read a sorry 11/3. The Sixers never recovered from there and Kerr’s unbeaten 15-ball 21 was nowhere near enough to take his team past the chequered flag. 

I’m thinking this too , I probably would’ve died on the inside if I was in the bay where Maxwell did that celebration after the second catch haha

— theresa (@theresa07_) January 9, 2025