• Home
  • Cricket News
  • Clash Of The Titans Scorchers Face Sixers As The Final Hurdle In Their Dream Run

Clash of the Titans: Scorchers face Sixers as the final hurdle in their dream run


The 10th edition of Big Bash League has boiled down to a clash of titans. It has taken 60 matches to get here and what 60 matches have they been. The BBL this season has dodged a close bullet in Covid-19 and the restrictions that come with it, it has survived the new BBL rules that seemed bizarre ahead of the tournament. When that dust settled, the viewers were dealt a crazy final matchday where 5 out of the eight teams battled out for the last two positions in the playoff stages of the tournament.

But we are here now, the final game of this season. It is difficult to argue that anyone but Perth Scorchers and Sydney Sixers deserved a spot in the final. The Scorchers have literally had a dream run-up to the final. Failing to win a single match from their first four games, then turned their campaign around winning the eight out of their next nine. The only team that they were not able to defeat in their nine-game run was the Sixers. As fate would have it, Perth lost one more time against Sixers in their run-up to the BBL Finals.

However, they fought back and won the Challenger against an in-form Brisbane Heat comprehensively to put the pressure back on the Sixers, who will be under pressure to defend the title at their home ground, the mighty SCG. The Sydney team have had a good time, winning nine out of their 14 league games and topping the league table before beating Scorchers in the Qualifier. 

Thus, the final is going to be a real clash of the titans in all sense. 

Dynamic Perth batting, a cause of concern for Sixers

The one thing that Perth did for their revival in the tournament was the spike in their bowling form. Jhye Richardson was impressive in particular and it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that he bowled Perth back into the tournament. Similarly, there was also a slow revival in the batting fortunes of the Scorchers with the veterans, Colin Munro and Josh Inglis leading the charge. 

So far Munro has scored 441 runs while 391 runs have been scored by Inglis and this solid foundation has given the freedom to the likes of Liam Livingstone, Mitchell Marsh, and Jason Roy to go for the kill right from the first ball. 

Perth would like the two to continue being reliable. And at the same time, the team would also want their three quicks in Richardson, Jason Behrendorff, and Andrew Tye to continue their rich vein of form. If all these things fall in place, Perth is surely in with a good chance. 

Josh Philippe and Ben Dwarshuis: Two men who matter the most for Sixers 

In this entire campaign, the two players that have performed consistently for the Sixers are Josh Philippe with the bat and Ben Dwarshuis with the ball. The two have been able to guide the Sixers ship towards the shore more often than not. While Philippe has 499 runs from 15 innings, Dwarshuis has 21 wickets in this year’s BBL so far. Philippe is going to be the anchor while Sixers bat and then the likes of Dan Christin, James Vince, and Moises Henriques can then free their arms to get the desired results while batting. 

Similarly, with Steve O’Keefe, Carlos Brathwaite, and Jackson Bird in the ranks, Dwarshuis’ role is going to be that of the key wicket-taker, and if he fulfils that the rest of the players can contribute as well. 

Sixers vs Scorchers: Match Details

Match: Final

Date and Time: 06th Feb, 02:10 pm IST, 07:40 pm Local, 08:40 am IST

Venue: Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney

Broadcast and Live Stream: Sony SIX and Sony LIV

Pitch Report

This is going to be the first game at the SCG in this year’s BBL. A flat batting track, the SCG would hopefully have a bit more spike in the wicket to offer some assistance to pacers and make sure that the ball comes on to the bat real nice. 

As previous encounters are concerned any total between 160-185 is going to be challenging on this wicket. 

Weather and Bat Flip

Rain has been predicted in the evening of the 6th in Sydney. With 94% cloud cover and rain in the offing, any skipper winning the bat flip would look to bowl first keeping Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method in mind. Although a reserve day has been announced by CA if the match gets washed away on Saturday, even after that the choice to bowl first is an obvious one. 

Sixers Strongest XI

Josh Philippe (wk), James Vince, Daniel Hughes, Moises Henriques (c), Jordan Silk, Daniel Christian, Carlos Brathwaite, Sean Abbott, Ben Dwarshuis, Steve OKeefe, Jackson Bird

Scorchers  Strongest XI

Liam Livingstone, Cameron Bancroft, Colin Munro, Josh Inglis (wk), Mitchell Marsh, Ashton Turner (c), Aaron Hardie, Jhye Richardson, Andrew Tye, Jason Behrendorff, Fawad Ahmed

Powered by Froala Editor

Discover more
Top Stories
news

Started from the bottom now we're here: Scorchers roll over Heat to reach BBL finals

"Started from the bottom now we're here", this has exactly been the story of the Perth Scorcher, who won eight out of their last nine league games to make it to the BBL Finals. Today also they put in an exemplary performance with both bat and ball, defeating Brisbane Heat by a huge margin of 49 runs in a rain-curtailed affair at the Manuka Oval. Liam Livingstone was the hero with the bat for the Scorchers while Jason Behrendorff gave early jolts to the Heat. With this win, the Scorchers go to the SCG in Sydney where they will face the Sixers who defeated them in the Qualifiers early on at the manuka oval. Chasing a huge target of 200 in just 18 overs, as the target was changed because of the Duckworth-Lewis scenario, the Scorchers couldn’t get the desired result as skipper Chris Lynn got out early, without putting an impactful performance as was expected from him. Eventually, the entire team came falling as the pressure of scoring at such a high rate from the very first ball got big on them. Joe Burns tried his best to keep a fight going, but it was too much to ask of him as soon as heroes from the previous games like Jimmy Peirson and Marnus Labuschagne got out under the pressure. Burns’ 38 of 24 being the highest score of the heta while chasing 200 tells us a sorry tale of the chase. Behrendorff took two early wickets and the was helped by the likes of Aaron Hardie and Andrew Tye in cleaning up the tail as they both took three and two wickets respectively. Earlier in the day, Heat won the toss and put Scorchers to bat first. The Scorchers made the most of that opportunity as they built a great opening partnership of 114 runs with Livingstone hitting 77 off just 39 balls to destroy the Heat bowling attack, which has been the USP of the Lynn led side in the finals. Neither of the spinners in Mitchell Swepson and Labushagne could get going, rather Labuschagne was taken for the cleaners as he conceded 36 in his two overs. Mitchell Marsh followed in Livingstone’s footsteps as he too scored a quickfire 49* off just 28 balls to get Perth to 189-1 in 18.1 overs. Cameron Bancroft, Livingstone’s opening partner played the anchor role scoring 58*, while the former was awarded the Man of the Match for this performance of his brilliant performance. Speaking on his performance, Livingstone said, “I have been working hard but haven't had the best of the tournament, so nice to get some runs under the belt and now looking forward to the final.” Not being able to play their Challengers at home, Livingstone said that the team would look to win the Trophy and bring it home for the fans who missed the game due to covid-19 restrictions. “There will be a bit of spice (against the Sixers) especially after what happened in the Qualifier. It will be good to play in front of a full crowd again. Hopefully, we can bring it home on Saturday,” he said.

news

Kohli says Indian players discussed farmers’ protest in team meeting

Indian skipper Virat Kohli has said that the Indian team discussed the farmers’ protest issue in the team meeting. The farmers’ issue and Indian cricket got connected as all the major Indian cricketers tweeted a similar tweet with the hashtag #IndiaTogether. "Any issue which is present in the country, we do talk about it & everyone has expressed what they had to say about the issue. We briefly spoke about it in the team meeting and then we carried on discussing the team's plans," Kohli said that in the pre-match press conference in Chennai. Indian cricketers, both former and current including former greats like Sachin Tendulkar and Anil Kumble too tweeted with the same hashtag and it was supposed to be an answer to the Rihanna and Greta Thornberg tweets supporting the farmers’ strike going on in Delhi. "Let us all stay united in this hour of disagreements. Farmers are an integral part of our country and I'm sure an amicable solution will be found between all parties to bring about peace and move forward together," Kohli had tweeted on Wednesday, 04th February. Kohli, 32, also talked about his love for the game saying that the hunger to play for India and win games while playing would not go until and unless he retires. "I can never lose my love for cricket and I was always connected to my team even when away. I will continue to enjoy my cricket and taking Indian cricket forward and that is how it will be till the day I retire,” said Kohli.