The Sydney Derby on Christmas Eve was a bit of a damp squid, both in attendance and in contest. The experience of the two teams set a wide margin between them and for the most part this is how the game progressed. The Sixers first game was one where they probably got away with a victory they shouldn’t have secured, while the Thunder has a top order that looks as good as there is in the tournament. All of this added up to a good win the further the Thunder’s season, and a loss that may perpetrate the future for the Sixers.
Jos Buttler proved once again how important he is to this Thunder team, and how much they will suffer when he has to leave in the New Year for national duties. He was the second man dismissed in the 12th over and the total was already on 102. Buttler scored 63 of those off just 37 deliveries, with six fours and three sixes. He manoeuvred the bowling around and then took advantage of overpitched deliveries to dispatch them when they arrived. He set up what should have been a much bigger total. The Sixers Tom Curran and Steve O’Keefe were able to drag back the momentum a little after Buttler’s dismissal, with Curran in particular superb in finishing with 3/24 from his four overs. The Thunder’s Daniel Sams slapped 28 from 11 deliveries at the end to wrest back some of what had been lost, and without his contribution that Sixers could well have been chasing a total of under 150 which would have been a remarkable achievement following Buttler’s start. The Thunder’s final total of 9/169 was less than the Thunder should have got but more than the Sixers wanted to chase.
The Sixers top order again failed to fire, but on this occasion were not saved by Silk and Hughes who found themselves part of the demise. They were 6/56 after nine overs and for all intents and purposes out of the match, thanks in the main to Fawad Ahmed who again showed his prowess by taking three of the wickets to fall. Needing 114 off 11 overs seemed improbable, but an excellent partnership from Curran and Sean Abbott at least gave them a fighting chance, but they were unable to keep themselves up with the run rate required and eventually their chance slipped away. Curran made 62 from 40 deliveries to complete a fantastic all round match for the Englishman, while Abbott made 35 from 28 deliveries. Their partnership of 88 from 10 overs was terrific but left them 26 short with the final over to be bowled, a task too far as they eventually finished on 9/148. Daniel Sams completed the other excellent all round performance of the match, finishing with 3/30 to go with his late order hard hitting.
The result leaves the Sixers in no mans land, and one suspects that unless they find a way to make runs at the top of the order they are in for a long season, while the Thunder look in good hands with Buttler and Root until the time they depart, at which time there will be a need to reassess how they approach their top six.
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