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The BBL06 MVP: Week 4

Moises Henriques wants to wear whites this summer. (Image: Supplied)
Expert
15th January, 2017
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It was moving week in BBL06 ahead of a six-game run to the end of the home-and-away season, and with plenty on the line here are the performances that mattered most.

Match 21: Sydney Sixers vs Melbourne Renegades
This was a strangely conventional, evenly poised and evenly fought game – a rarity in T20 cricket. The game went to the final over, but that didn’t add to the tension.

The Renegades batted first, posting a decent score of 170 on the back of 57 from Aaron Finch and a pair of 30+ scores from Tom Cooper and Callum Ferguson. After some early hitting, the inning settled into a gentle 8.5rpo pace and barely budged thereafter. No Sixers bowler conceded less than seven, or more than ten, runs per over.

The chase was similarly up-and-down. Tom Cooper’s now-standard 0/1 from one over kicked things off, and from then the Sixers ambled towards the target like they were casually strolling through Centennial Park. All five batsmen who saw more than ten deliveries cracked 20 runs, with opener Dan Hughes continuing his impressive tournament with 41.

So who was the MVP? I’m going to throw it the way of the winning captain Moises Henriques, for no other reason that there was no stand out performance. He gets three MVP votes.

Match 22: Melbourne Stars vs Adelaide Strikers
A great, even performance with the ball saw the Melbourne Stars restrict the Adelaide Strikers to 152 – surely a molehill for the mountainous Stars batting line-up. They did their best to stuff it up.

At the turn, the Stars were 4/72 with 81 runs still required and most of their top order back in the sheds. Some slow play – and strange request to have the tape removed from Kieron Pollard’s bowling hand – by Kevin Peterson steadied the ship, but when he was run out in the 14th over the Strikers were looking solid.

Kevin Pietersen for the Melbourne Stars

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Enter The Finisher. No, not James Faulkner, who somehow made the Australian squad. I’m talking about Ben Hilfenhaus. Hilfy had already taken two critical wickets in the latter stages of the Strikers’ innings, likely resulting in the 153 target rather than a 163 target. He scored 32 of the last 46 runs, including a back-breaking six in the 18th over, to win the game. He earns four BBL MVP votes.

Ben Laughlin (for the Strikers) and Scott Boland (for the Stars) also had very solid outings with the ball; given the victory, I’ll toss a secondary vote the way of Boland.

Match 23: Brisbane Heat vs Perth Scorchers
This one was a throwback to when the Scorchers were at their absolute peak; a defensive masterclass of tight, no-width bowling and (near) perfect fielding. After stumbling early, the Scorchers set Brisbane a smallish target of 156. Michael Klinger was the hero, scoring 81 from 54 balls as the rest of the side struggled to find any rhythm.

From what we’ve seen of the Heat so far, 157 should have been an easy target to chase down. In the end, Perth put their infamous clamps on and bowled the side out for a paltry 129 from 19.2 overs. The key? No width, varied pace, and varied length by the bowlers – except from Ashton Agar, who bowled the same cramping left arm around the wicket delivery 24 times in a row. The Heat had no answer, particularly once Brendon McCullum was dismissed (given the absence, from the playing field at least, of Chris Lynn).

Klinger won the man of the match award and gets four votes here for being the difference between a score of 100 and a score of 156 for the travelling team. Andrew Tye gets a secondary vote for his tight bowling, beating out the Heat’s Mitchell Swepson who had a great night with the ball himself.

Match 24: Melbourne Renegades vs Hobart Hurricanes
How’s this for a scorecard?

The Melbourne Renegades put on a show, hitting a tournament high of 222 from their 20 overs for the loss of four wickets. Aaron Finch led the way with an excellent 63, before some late innings striking from Tom Cooper, Callum Ferguson and Thisara Perera propelled the total to unreachable territory.

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No one told Ben McDermott. The Hurricanes’ number three hit 114 from just 52 balls, with nine sixes and eight fours mostly to the on side, as he got his side into a winning position. The ‘Canes needed 16 from six, and a terrible, horrible, awful over from the ‘Gades’ Perera meant numbers eight, nine and ten (Sam Rainbird, Cameron Boyce and Stuart Broad) were able to get their team home.

With five ‘Canes batsmen failing to score more than one run, it’s clear who the MVP of this chase was: McDermott gets on the board with the second five-vote performance of the season.

Match 25: Sydney Sixers vs Sydney Thunder
The rematch of a very flat Sydney derby was very flat. The Sixers’ batting line-up capitulated early and scrapped to a score of 99 from their 20 overs. It was loose shot after loose shot from the pink team, including a total horror show from the experienced Brad Haddin which condemned his side to 5-56 at the half way point.

The Thunder weren’t troubled one bit in the chase, catching the even 100 in an even ten overs. The batsmen don’t get the credit here, though: Fawad Ahmed’s four overs, 4/14 with a clean sheet by way of extras was the pick of the bowling spells, claiming the 3-4-5 of the Sixers’ lineup along the way. He earns four BBL MVP votes.

fawad-ahmen-sydney-thunder-big-bash-league-cricket-2016

Match 26: Perth Scorchers vs Melbourne Stars
The late game of the double-header was also over early doors, with a destructive spell from World Darts Championship tourer-in-waiting Michael Beer rocking the Scorchers in the opening overs.

The home team were a calamitous 4-13 at the end of the fourth over, with some kind of black magic saving the Scorchers from an embarrassing defeat. With Michael Beer on the charge – yes, really – Justin Langer decided to send Andrew Tye in at number six rather than one of the Ashtons.

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Tye was playing and missing every second ball, but somehow got on a roll and hit an innings-saving 42 from 33. Ashton Turner, Ashton Agar and import Tim Bresnan managed to bring the total up to a defendable 134 through 20 overs, and if any side was going to defend 134 it was this one.

For a while, it looked like the Scorchers were in with a chance. Melbourne never strode faster than a leisurely jog until Marcus Stoinis smacked Tye for 22 in the 17th over to end the home crowd’s fantasies of another low total defence from the Scorchers.

The MVP has to be Beer, for starting the game on such a positive note for the Stars with his three overs, 2/6 (which included a leg bye). He earns three BBL06 MVP votes.

The Leaderboard
With just six games remaining, Brisbane’s Chris Lynn has one hand on the figurative BBL06 MVP trophy. Half of the competition has just one game remaining, and with Lynn’s lead over the pack starting at six votes only those players who’ve got two games to come can catch him. We’re all playing for second here, fellas. Fortunately, that race is still wide open, as is the competition for finals spots.

Player Votes Can he catch Lynn?
Chris Lynn 13 This is Lynn
Moises Henriques 7 No
Michael Klinger 6 No
Brendon McCullum 5 Yes
Shane Watson 5 No
Ben McDermott 5 No
Johan Botha 4 No
Sean Abbott 4 No
Dan Christian 4 No
Eoin Morgan 4 No
Ben Hilfenhaus 4 Yes
Fahwad Ahmed 4 No
Brad Hogg 3 Yes
Ashton Turner 3 No
Glenn Maxwell 3 No
Cameron White 3 Yes
David Willey 3 No
Daniel Hughes 3 No
Chris Jordan 3 Yes
Kevin Peterson 3 Yes
Michael Beer 3 Yes
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