- Sydney Thunder 159-8; Sydney Sixers 160-1 (from 18 of 20 overs)
- Sixers beat defending champions by nine wickets with 12 balls remaining
In the battle of the hues, it’s the rose that prevails. Magentlemen. Did it easy in the end, Henriques’ 76 from 41 providing the muscle, Hughes with 54 from 49 providing the structural integrity. But the Greens made life hard for themselves by missing a couple of chances to dismiss Henriques, including first ball, and couldn’t bring any more pressure to bear on the Pinks’ dicey batting order.
The Thunder’s reasonable position at the halfway mark was down to BBL debutant Ryan Gibson, who will turn 23 in the next fortnight. When he was flying with Eoin Morgan, the Thunder were on for a huge total, but that was a briefly passing illlusion. In the end it was down to some fine tail-end batting from Cummins and McKay that got them close to a defensible total, but in the end that defence fell apart.
Related: Sixers open Big Bash League season with win over Thunder in Sydney
18th over: Sixers 160-1 (Hughes 54, Henriques 76)
With only 10 runs needed, and three overs to bowl, Henriques has found his range. Even Russell is punished now, a simple straight bat slog that flies over wide long-on for six. A couple of singles, the last of them requiring a dive at the non-striker’s end, and from the last ball of the over, the win is theirs.
17th over: Sixers 150-1 (Hughes 52, Henriques 68)
Green has been so tidy, but this is a bad time for him to concede his first four of the night. Moises slams him dead straight, second ball, after Hughes had taken a single. It’s also a bad time for him to go for his first six, which happens next ball as the pressure sees him delivery a full toss, and Henriques bends his knees and slogs across the line over wide long-on. While we’re at it, it’s probably a bad time for Green to go for his second six, which happens as Henriques goes straight again but this time lifts the ball. His 68 have come from 38 balls. The partnership is 105
16th over: Sixers 131-1 (Hughes 50, Henriques 51)
Big guns required, with the Sixers so close: Russell comes back on to bowl. Brilliant couple of yorkers, then a shorter ball that beats Hughes’ attempted glide. Nearly nicked it. Hughes gets a single and his own fifty from the last ball of the over, that milestone coming in 44 balls, but there are only three runs from the over.
15th over: Sixers 128-1 (Hughes 48, Henriques 50)
Slightly dicey, but Hughes’ skewed drive just clears Russell who has come up to mid-on. Four runs, then Hughes cracks a drive into Henriques’ foot at the non-striker’s end, meaning they only get a single. Saved, Moises. He celebrates with a single of his own that raises his fifty from 31 balls.
14th over: Sixers 120-1 (Hughes 42, Henriques 49)
He’s had his lives, now it’s Moises’ time to shine. Six, as he wallops Cummins on the pull shot down over wide long-on. Four, edged away fine through third man. Four, gone through cover. Two more runs with another pull, then four to close the over as Henriques got room to cut and proved he can play that shot too. What a contrast for Cummins to how he started. 21 from the over, 20 of those to Henriques, and the required rate plummets to about 6.6.
13th over: Sixers 99-1 (Hughes 41, Henriques 29)
And another cock-up! Henriques should have out about 40 times now, this time his pull shot hanging in the air over mid-on. Cummins running back called for the catch when it should always have belonged to Russell coming up from long-on. Russell respected the call, Cummins couldn’t backtrack far enough, and can only fingertip the ball away as he lunges back for it. Hughes tells his partner to wait at the other end, and swings McKay away for a pair of boundaries over the leg side.
12th over: Sixers 89-1 (Hughes 32, Henriques 28)
More garbage from the Thunder. What should have been a 6-run over becomes 10 runs, as Sandhu at short third man mucks up a simple stop. Hughes played a late cut straight to him, but the ball goes through for four. Henriques had a four saved by Patterson with a slide at backward point just before that, but they still got three in that case.
11th over: Sixers 79-1 (Hughes 26, Henriques 24)
Green is bowling so well. Off-spin from around the wicket, he’s mostly darting the ball, but his accuracy and his field placements are enough to esnurre that the batsmen can’t get him away. Two dots that Henriques can only slam to cover, and he’s frustrated enough to push harder down to lng on, not entirely in control. Three more singles follow. Three overs from Green for 13 runs.
10th over: Sixers 75-1 (Hughes 24, Henriques 22)
Lovely bit of skill from Moises Henriques, the Sixers captain, as he watches Fawad’s leg-break turn past the off stump, then catches up with it and runs it fine through third man for four. Thee singles around that, the boundary helps Pink Sydney keep more or less up with the rate.
9th over: Sixers 68-1 (Hughes 23, Henriques 16)
Another quite one for Chris Green, five singles as he spears the ball in. Something will have to give shortly.
8th over: Sixers 63-1 (Hughes 21, Henriques 13)
Spoke too soon. Fawad Ahmed is less convincing, dishing up a wide and a long-hop that gets pulled for four. Eight from the over, which is roughly the rate that the Sixers are at and what they need through the innings.
7th over: Sixers 55-1 (Hughes 20, Henriques 7)
As per the previous innings, spin slows the scoring. Chris Green’s over provides only four singles.
6th over: Sixers 51-1 (Hughes 18, Henriques 5)
Should have had two in two, Russell, but McKay makes a shocking effort at the catch. Fielding at short fine leg, Henriques gloved the ball on a gentle lob, and McKay coming across to his right somehow managed to be too slow, fall over, throw one hand out, and be nowhere near the ball. That’s just about the worst effort to get to a ball I can remember. Henriques rubs it in by cutting the last ball, a rank wide one for four.
Show’s over for now, as Andre Russell comes back, sends down a scrambly slower ball and Roy can only lift it to mid-on.
5th over: Sixers 41-0 (Hughes 17, Roy 23)
Not to be outdone, Hughes hooks as well and swings away six more! Sandhu the victim this time, and that ball goes high over fine leg from the first of the over. Hughes gets two from the next ball, then a couple of singles follow.
4th over: Sixers 31-0 (Hughes 8, Roy 22)
Whack! That’s probably the biggest hit of the night. Cummins gives plenty of pace and Roy makes use of all of it. it wasn’t that short but Roy was planning for the pull shot and gave it the fullest possible swing. Picked the ball up and sent it in a very high arc that dropped genuinely towards the back of the stand out on the on-side. That came just after pulling four through fine leg.
3rd over: Sixers 20-0 (Hughes 7, Roy 12)
Hi, I’m Jason Roy, have you seen what I can do? That’s pretty special, first a drive over mid-on for four, then a kneeling lap shot over fine leg for the same. Clint McKay is the bowler, who Ricky Ponting can barely remember playing a Test with once many moons ago.
No1 thing I like about BBL: national selector Mark Waugh having no idea who any of the players are.
2nd over: Sixers 10-0 (Hughes 6, Roy 3)
Russell also starting well and at pace. Fierce short ball, and a fuller one that has Roby charging and missing and by all rights deserving to be bowled, but it clears the stumps. A wide and three singles the only product from the over, as the Sixers show they’re not wanting to go completely nuts from the outset.
1st over: Sixers 6-0 (Hughes 5, Roy 1)
Cummins opens up the bowling. Serious pace straight away. Some good lines as well. Just a couple of singles from the first five balls, then hughes nicks a lucky four through third man.
Pretty decent total from Green Sydney in the end - their top order stuttered but produced just enough good overs, and their lower order was able to fill in the blanks. 160 is a fairly par score for most BBL games - teams would fancy their chances of running it down, but it can certainly be defended. The Pinkos don’t have a super strong batting line-up, with a lot of all-rounders, so if the Greens can subdue Jason Roy and Sam Billings, the English imports, then the rest may struggle. Your thoughts?
20th over: Sydney Thunder 159-8 (McKay 14, Sandhu 1)
Great closing over from Clint McKay, who can bat better than you’d expect. I remember him being in a partnership of 60-plus runs with James Faulkner, I think, in which McKay scored something like 1 run. Should find the details later. But he can do it himself when he’s the senior man, and he is here. The two singles and the two dots in Abbott’s over are fine, but the inside edge through fine leg for four and the length ball bashed over midwicket for six do somewhat spoil the gloss.
19th over: Sydney Thunder 147-8 (McKay 3, Sandhu 0)
More hectic batting here: three singles, then Cummins latches onto another one, this time on the straight drive fro Dwarshuis, and thumps it waaaaaay down the ground dead straight for six more. Can hit. Oh boy. Next ball he tries the same shot, and it just hangs enough for long-on and long-off to converage and hang onto the catch inside the rope.
18th over: Sydney Thunder 138-7 (Cummins 23, McKay 1)
EVERYBODY KNOWS I’M A MOTHERTRUCKIN’ MONSTER. That really was one from Cummins, got down on one knee and absolutely launches Botha into low-earth orbit and then back down into the crowd way beyond midwicket. He’d tried it earlier in the over and missed completely, the over conceded only a couple of singles and a wide to that point, but Cummins finishes it with that beast. Kanye bat, they asked? Sure can.
17th over: Sydney Thunder 129-7 (Cummins 16, McKay 0)
Happy days for Dwarshuis, after Cummins crushed him over long-on with a powerful pull shot to start the over. Can bat, Cummins. I did the BBC commentary of him making 86 not out in a tour game for Australia against Northamptonshire in 2015, was the best by a mile. Fifth ball gets the wicket, followed by a wide. Nine from the over in total.
If you can keep your head when all about you... That was Gibson today, who opened the batting and then had to carry it as his top order teammates fell by the wayside. Finally he makes a mistake as he mistimes a pull, and Billings leaps forward to claim the lobbed ball low at midwicket.
16th over: Sydney Thunder 120-6 (Gibson 53, Cummins 8)
He’s found the way to beat Botha! A switch-hit from Gibson, he gets it very fine through third man and runs it away for four. Three singles as well from the over, they’re building up something here. Then Gibson finishes it with a couple of twos to midwicket, the first of which brings up his half-century from 41 balls. It’s been a fine hand in a crumbling innings.
15th over: Sydney Thunder 109-6 (Gibson 44, Cummins 6)
Ryan Gibson is playing a gem here tonight. A few singles from the over, then he drives Bollinger’s slower ball through cover for four. Here’s a glimpse from the crowd tonight. Meanwhile England is trying to bat out a thriller in Chennai, and India is swarming them. Check that OBO here.
The joint is packed for the #SydneySmash Great atmosphere. @ThunderBBL v @SixersBBL is a great way to open the @BBL season. pic.twitter.com/IAH2wjml9a
14th over: Sydney Thunder 102-6 (Gibson 39, Cummins 4)
Abbott should have a tidy over, but there’s an unorthodox boundary. Gibson gets a single, Hughes throws at the non-striker’s end and gives up four overthrows. Nine from the voer in the end, the Thunder needed that.
@GeoffLemonSport the greasy, dirty and possibly e. coli infected kebab of the cricket world. The perfect thing.
13th over: Sydney Thunder 93-6 (Gibson 32, Cummins 2)
Unusual to expect Patrick Cummins to save you with the bat, but he’ll have to do some work here. Botha isn’t giving much away, spin still keeping control. Six runs from the over, four singles and a brace.
12th over: Sydney Thunder 87-6 (Gibson 28, Cummins 0)
A wide from Bollinger ends an over that involved a fair old comeback. Belted by Russell through third man and then midwicket, Bollinger grabbed two wickets thereafter. Gibson is still around, he could carry his bat here. The Thunder have lost 5 for 15.
Nothing Green can stay. Not even something as radiant as Chris Green. The Sixers are excited as he walks out, they bring in a slip, and he duly edges his second ball there.
Massive strike for the Sixers: Russell had just belted two boundaries, and was lining up a third by backing away and trying to cut. Got an edge instead, it tailed earthwards as it neared Haddin, but he got down low to take it. The commentators can now stop losing their minds over Russell’s all-black bat.
11th over: Sydney Thunder 78-4 (Gibson 28, Russell 1)
SOK finishes off a brilliant spell, 1 for 16 from his four overs. Two singles from this one, then Gibson chops a ball accidentally between the wicketkeeper’s legs for two.
10th over: Sydney Thunder 74-4 (Gibson 25, Russell 0)
A double-wicket maiden to Mennie. In a T20. Where his last over got pounded. Anyone care to tell me it’s a funny game?
Think we can call this a comeback over? Anyone? Anyone? Yes? Ok then. Doran walks out, tries to work his second ball to leg, and misses it straight in front. Max Gawwwwwn.
Get ready to voice your rendition of ‘whadddddacatch!’ It was pretty spesh. Rohrer, left-hander, gets some width from Mennie. Times a late cut very nicely, but the flying ball is intercepted by a horizontal Jason Roy, who looms into the frame like an Empire spaceship and hauls it in with his tractor beam.
9th over: Sydney Thunder 74-2 (Gibson 25, Rohrer 2)
Botha is able to close out the rest of his over, conceding just three singles from it after taking the wicket. Ben Rohrer in, the old stager. who hit the winning runs last year in the final.
“Botha, first ball in the Big Bash as an Australian, and he sends back the Irishman who plays for England.” Not bad from Mark Howard. Botha spins a ball across the left-handed Morgan, who gets an inside edge as he tries to flip through square. Haddin snares it, good take. El Capitan is sunk.
8th over: Sydney Thunder 71-1 (Gibson 23, Morgan 24)
Sean Abbott. Another excellent over. Ties Morgan down for two balls, and all that the stand-in captain can do in the end is run a single to third man. Gibson gets one through square, and Morgan gets one more.
7th over: Sydney Thunder 68-1 (Gibson 23, Morgan 24)
Stephen Norman John O’Keefe. He’s the all-cheese diet in the intestinal tract of the Thunder innings. He blocks everything up. Captain Henriques has to turn to him for some control and he delivers with an over conceding four singles.
6th over: Sydney Thunder 64-1 (Gibson 21, Morgan 22)
Doug Bollinger. Not going to make any puns on the name, that wouldn’t be sparkling wit. But I am going to say that the bear makes him look decidedly dwarfish. Fits with my theme. A really tall dwarf, mind you. The dwarf Yao Ming. But he’d fit in down in the Mines of Moria nonetheless, even if he’d spend a lot of his life ducking.
5th over: Sydney Thunder 47-1 (Gibson 8, Morgan 18)
How many dudes you know roll like this, how many dudes you know bowl like this? Joe Mennie, if any. Joe Mennie, if any.
4th over: Sydney Thunder 25-1 (Gibson 8, Morgan 2)
Plenty of swing for Dwarshuis, he’s getting the ball to hoop around qiute a bit. One beats the edge, one hits the pad and goes for a leg bye. But the short ball doesn’t have a chance to swing, and Gibson clumps it for four off a mis-hit over mid-on.
3rd over: Sydney Thunder 18-1 (Gibson 4, Morgan 1)
O’Keefe is killing it. Five runs and the wicket from that over, hasn’t conceded a boundary yet. Did you know they call him “Socky” now? Did you know that I’ve lost the will to live? Such is the power of Strayan nicknaming progression. English short-form skipper Eoin Morgan comes into the middle. He’d go alright in my dwarf script as well. I don’t even know if he’s short, just something about the accent makes it seem like he would fit.
That’s a horrible ball and a horrible dismissal. And Doug Bollinger looking like a Guy Ritchie standover man isn’t that much of a picture to look at either. A pie outside leg, Patterson kneels to yank it through dine leg, but he does so in the air and Doug snares it in his beard.
2nd over: Sydney Thunder 13-0 (Patterson 8, Gibson 0)
Snow Wide and the Seven Dwarshuis. S’no wide, but plenty of leg byes. That’s the story of this over, five of them in all, plus four runs when Patterson wallops the bowler on the square drive.
1st over: Sydney Thunder 3-0 (Patterson 3, Gibson 0)
Interesting battle: Steve O’Keefe and Kurtis Patterson both on the verge of Test selection, wanting to press their cases with strong performances in this league. O’Keefe starts well, the left-arm darter opening the bowling and only giving up a brace and a single to Patterson, before Gibson can’t score from the last.
Teams: Shane Watson is out with a calf injury, the Thunder captain.
Thunder
Kurtis Patterson
Ryan Gibson
Eoin Morgan
Ben Rohrer
Andre Russell
Jake Doran
Chris Green
Pat Cummins
Clint McKay
Gurindher Sandhu
Fawad Ahmed
We apparently have no problem with conflicts of interest in Australia, because national selector Mark Waugh is here in his guise as a BBL commentators, but is also holding last year’s trophy and being introduced as “the Governor” of the Thunder cricket club. Yep, can’t see any problem with that. Nor his assessment of West Indies all-rounder Andre Russell. “He’s been in five championship winning teams around the world in the last 12 months, so he’s a winner,” says Waugh, not mentioning that Russell is under a massive cloud for not informing drug testers of his location on multiple locations and may find himself with a hefty ban when he has a hearing shortly.
Colour. Movement. Excitement. That’s the order of the day, as the eyeball-bleeding uniforms of Sydney and Sydney crash into each other. The opening montage for the telecast is about as hard on the eyes, there’ll be a few migraines flickering into life around the country as some sort of cricket-meets-Tron CGI monstrosity sees flame-wreathed batsmen lobbing napalm grenades to be tracked by catchers running back across the green-lined plains of virtual space.
A highly convincing young kid named Sarah tells us all about how she’s a Sydney Thunder fan and wants to “get the win” over the Sixers, in a pre-recorded promo shot that is a tour de force of naturalistic acting.
As always, the OBO relies on you. Imagine me in Lord Kitchener pose. Tell me a story, sing me a song, pen me a lament for sweet times gone by, talk to me about cricket or your feelings or your feelings about cricket or a really sweet Russian YouTube video you saw or a way to manufacture homemade fireworks. Get involved, up to your wrists. Send me your emails (geoff.lemon@theguardian.com) or get me on the tweet machine (@GeoffLemonSport). It’ll be a long cold lonely night otherwise. LOL. It’s not cold, I’m in goddamn Brisbane, I’m sweating so hard that my skin has become a kind of jelly.
Evening all. What a thriller we had in the Test match at the Gabba. But there’s never enough cricket at this time of year, so we’re going to settle in tonight for a very different kind of game. Geoff Lemon setting up to be your company through the very first Big Bash League game of the season, with Sydney taking on Sydney. Which Sydney is Tyler Durden and which is the unnamed Edward Norton? Guess we’ll find out.
Geoff will be here shortly. In the meantime, have a quick read of this here 2016-17 season preview:
Related: Big Bash League preview: all the ins and outs for the 2016-17 tournament
Continue reading...