The BBL’s reigning wooden spooners have started their summer with a bang, with the Adelaide Strikers stunning the Sydney Sixers in a three-wicket win in the final over at the SCG.<\/p>\n
With no other recognised batters remaining, number six Jamie Overton (30) did just enough to help the Strikers chase the 160 runs required with four balls left on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n
It was the Strikers’ first win at the SCG since 2017 and left the Sixers 0-2 to begin the season, with superstar import Babar Azam (9) again failing to make his mark.<\/p>\n
Chasing the Sixers’ 9-159 never appeared straightforward for the Strikers, despite a second T20 half-century from Liam Scott (51).<\/p>\n
Superstar openers Chris Lynn (5) and Matt Short (15) fell cheaply in the powerplay, the former holing out to long on and the latter flicking to fine leg.<\/p>\n
When Daniel Hughes took a one-handed screamer at short fine leg to dismiss Harry Nielsen (0), Overton was left as the only recognised batter at the crease.<\/p>\n
A six off Mitch Perry that rolled down the tunnel by the members’ stand was a particular highlight of his innings.<\/p>\n
On 26 runs, Overton survived a diving chance from Joel Davies just in front of the members’ stand that rolled for four and left the Strikers requiring six runs from nine balls.<\/p>\n
The big Englishman holed out to the deep in the penultimate over, but by that stage his teammates had the rest of the chase under control.<\/p>\n
“It’s nice to get one over the Sixers, they’ve been a formidable side in the Big Bash since it started,” Overton said.<\/p>\n
“We’ve obviously started here, but we’ve still got a long way to go, and we still feel like we can improve from the way we played today.”<\/p>\n
Earlier, Sixers opener Babar flopped for a second time in as many games since signing as arguably the highest-profile international player in BBL history.<\/p>\n
The Sixers hosted a designated active support bay for the Pakistani batter’s biggest fans \u2014 dubbed “Babaristan” \u2014 at the bottom of the Bill O’Reilly Stand.<\/p>\n
But some of the diehards were yet to take their seats when Azam picked out Matt Short at mid wicket from Luke Wood’s bowling in the third over.<\/p>\n
Azam has now scored only 11 runs across his first two digs, but Sixers stalwart Josh Philippe (46) struck back at first drop.<\/p>\n
The innings never truly recovered from Lloyd Pope (2-25) picking him and Jordan Silk (0) off in consecutive balls in a collapse of 3-6 that also claimed captain Moises Henriques (20).<\/p>\n
“We got wickets at the right time, and we stayed in the contest as long as we could; we were probably just 10 or 15 (runs) short at the end,” Philippe said.<\/p>\n
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