Sydney Sixers captain Moises Henriques has helped his team avert a late disaster and secure the coveted BBL finals double-chance, beating the Perth Scorchers in a last-ball thriller at Optus Stadium.
After English import Laurie Evans’ swashbuckling 72 off 34 balls steered the Scorchers to 4-197 on Tuesday night, the Sixers lost 4-5 off seven balls to nosedive from 3-181 to 7-186 before Henriques (47no off 20 balls) stepped up and sealed a gripping, vital five-wicket win.
The second-ranked Sixers will play top-of-the-table Brisbane Heat in Friday’s Qualifier in Carrara, while the Scorchers, who slipped to third, will host the Adelaide Strikers in the sudden-death Knockout on Saturday.
With 17 required off the last two overs and seven wickets in the shed the chase was under control before Jason Behrendorff’s 19th over reaped 3-3.
Needing 17 off 12 and all but home, Jordan Silk fell to a stunning catch from wicketkeeper Josh Inglis running back with the flight to clasp a top-edge close to the fine boundary; one ball later, Jack Edwards was dismissed for a golden duck as he lofted a catch to Andrew Tye.
To summarise the Sixers’ scrambled thinking, new batter Hayden Kerr, having mustered just two from the over’s next three balls, attempted a non-existent third run off the final ball of the over after clubbing Behrendorff over cover.
With Henriques on 33 off just 16 balls and batting beautifully, successfully completing the run would still have denied him the strike to begin the final over; worse for the Sixers, a clean take from Behrendorff from an excellent throw from captain Aaron Hardie ensured a new batter would need to face the start of the last.
That man, Ben Dwarshuis, then fell too at the start of the 20th to add the to the drama, after wildly swinging and missing to allow Inglis to throw down the stumps with the tailender out of his crease.
Watching the calamity helplessly from the non-striker’s end, Henriques finally got on strike with 11 needed off the last four balls, and hit Hardie for 2-6-2-4 to stun the Scorchers, who had won six of their past seven against the Sixers and 17 of 18 at their Perth fortress.
“Magnificent Moises!” Channel 7 commentator Andy Maher explained as Henriques nervelessly flipped Hardie over backward point for the winning boundary off the final ball, with one needed for victory.
“What an extraordinary contest we’ve witnessed here at Perth Stadium,” co-commentator Callum Ferguson added.
“Teams don’t come here and mow down 190, let alone 197. And it was an innings that was built beautifully all the way through; they kept wickets in the shed while playing really good cricket shots through the early going.
“Gave themselves an opportunity to launch late – and the skipper [Henriques] from ball one walked out with great intent, kept the momentum going all the way through the innings.
“That is one of the great run chases in BBL history!”
The second-ranked Sixers will play top-of-the-table Brisbane Heat in Friday’s Qualifier in Carrara, while the Scorchers, who slipped to third, will host the Adelaide Strikers in the sudden-death Knockout on Saturday.
Opener Daniel Hughes (74) anchored the Sixers’ innings and was well supported by Josh Philippe (32) and James Vince (22).
“It’s nice to get the win and for our batters to get a score above 200,” Henriques said.
“It was a really good performance and gives us that second chance in the finals.
“We don’t often come to Perth and win so to win like that, it was just a great game of cricket.”
Earlier, the Scorchers stalled before launching late, blasting 2-131 off their last 10 overs after being 2-66 from their first 10.
Evans was the key, signing off on an impressive campaign with another whirlwind knock, during which he took Hayden Kerr for 4-6-4-4-4 in one over.
Evans will miss the upcoming finals as he heads to the United Arab Emirates for the IL20 and received a standing ovation when walked off after lofting Dwarshuis (2-23) to Jordan Silk, completing his summer as a Scorcher with 292 runs at 58.40 and a strike-rate of 189.61.
Sam Whiteman (17) gloved a catch behind and Stephen Eskinazi (7) retired hurt with a hand injury, both in the powerplay, before Evans and Hardie went about setting the Sixers a stiff target, that they just edged past.
© AAP
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