Listen: ABC, SEN Radio. Listen in standard and\u00a0real-time\u00a0with no delay to live play via Cricket Radio on the\u00a0CA Live app<\/a>. Find out more\u00a0here<\/a><\/p>\n Buy tickets: Tickets are on sale here<\/a><\/p>\n Live scores: Match Centre<\/a><\/p>\n Highlights, news and reactions after the match: cricket.com.au<\/a>, the CA Live<\/a> and Big Bash<\/a> apps<\/p>\n Officials: Troy Penman and Gerard Abood (field), Ben Treloar (third), Claire Polosak (fourth), David Gilbert (match referee)<\/p>\n Match squads<\/p>\n Sydney Sixers: Moises Henriques (c), Sean Abbott, Babar Azam, Jafer Chohan, Joel Davies, Ben Dwarshuis, Jack Edwards, Daniel Hughes, Ben Manenti, Josh Phillipe, Kane Richardson, Jake Scott, Lachlan Shaw, Jordan Silk<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Ins: Ben Manenti, Sean Abbott, Jake Scott. Outs: Hayden Kerr (omitted), Todd Murphy (national selection), Mitch Perry (omitted)<\/p>\n Sean Abbott will make his first appearance in BBL|15 after being passed fit from the hamstring injury sustained in the Sheffield Shield that has kept him out of the Ashes campaign. The Sixers also welcome allrounder Jake Scott to the squad as a local replacement player in place of Todd Murphy after his call up to the Australian squad for the Boxing Day Test.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ben Manenti also returns to the squad in place of Hayden Kerr and Mitch Perry, who have been both been omitted.\u00a0<\/p>\n Melbourne Stars: Marcus Stoinis (c), Hilton Cartwright, Joe Clarke, Tom Curran, Sam Harper, Liam Hatcher, Campbell Kellaway, Glenn Maxwell, Hamish McKenzie, Jono Merlo, Haris Rauf, Tom Rogers, Peter Siddle, Mitch Swepson<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Ins: Jon Merlo.\u00a0Outs: Tom Whitney (omitted)<\/p>\n The undefeated Stars made just one change from the squad who beat the Strikers in Adelaide with Jon Merlo returning in place of quick Tom Whitney.\u00a0<\/p>\n Club news Listen on Spotify<\/a>Listen on Apple Podcasts<\/a>Listen on iHeart Radio<\/a><\/p>\n Players to watch<\/p>\n Jafer Chohan (Sixers): The young English leggie jumped recalled Test squad member Todd Murphy as the Sixers’ first-choice spinner in their last match at home, taking 1-28 in their loss to the Strikers. Will face another stern test on Boxing Day as he goes head-to-head with Australian stars Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis in the middle overs.<\/p>\n Glenn Maxwell (Stars): Slammed an unbeaten 58 from 32 balls in his last innings against the Sixers in January during the Stars’ incredible run to qualify for the finals last season. Maxwell returns to the SCG on Boxing Day, which hasn’t been his favourite BBL venue in recent years but one where he scored 32 off 17 balls with three sixes in the same fixture exactly 12 months ago.<\/p>\n Top performers<\/p>\n \n Most Runs \n Most Wickets Local knowledgeRapid stats<\/p>\n Melbourne Stars will be aiming for consecutive wins against Sydney Sixers in the BBL for the first time since January 2020 following their 16-run victory when they last met earlier this year (January 9, 2025). There’s not many bigger days on the cricketing calendar than Boxing Day with all eyes to turn to the Big Bash double-header after stumps on day one of the fourth Ashes Test at the MCG. The Sixers historically hold the upper hand in this fierce rivalry between two of the competition’s biggest clubs, but the Stars have started BBL|15 well with two wins to sit top of the standings and will be out to keep their momentum rolling.<\/p>\n KFC BBL|15 standings<\/p>\n Team<\/p>\n \n Matches played\n <\/p>\n M<\/p>\n \n Wins\n <\/p>\n W<\/p>\n \n Losses\n <\/p>\n L<\/p>\n \n Ties\n <\/p>\n T<\/p>\n \n No results\n <\/p>\n N\/R<\/p>\n \n Net Run Rate\n <\/p>\n NRR<\/p>\n \n Deductions\n <\/p>\n Ded.<\/p>\n \n Total points\n <\/p>\n PTS<\/p>\n 1 2 2 3 3 3 4 2 5 3 6 2 7 3 8 2 Legend<\/p>\n M: Matches played<\/p>\n W: Wins<\/p>\n L: Losses<\/p>\n T: Ties<\/p>\n N\/R: No results<\/p>\n NRR: Net Run Rate<\/p>\n Ded.: Deductions<\/p>\n PTS: Total points<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Sixers and Stars face off at the SCG in the first match of a blockbuster Boxing Day…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":371430,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,85,83],"class_list":["post-371429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-sports","tag-text"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=371429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371429\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/371430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=371429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=371429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=371429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nSydney SixersMelbourne StarsGet the latest<\/p>\n
\n BBL|15 BKT Golden Bat\n <\/p>\n
\n BBL|15 BKT Golden Arm\n <\/p>\n
\nSydney Sixers have lost each of their past two BBL matches at the SCG, batting first on the day in each of those two games. The last time they recorded a longer losing run at the venue was a three-match span from January to December in 2017.
\nMelbourne Stars have a collective batting average of 53.3 so far this BBL|15 season, the best of any team and almost 15 runs more than the next best (Brisbane Heat \u2013 38.4); although, the Stars have hit just six sixes in the campaign which is the fewest of any team.
\nMelbourne Stars’ Marcus Stoinis (20 per cent of 30 balls bowled) and Sydney Sixers’ Ben Dwarshuis (12 per cent of 66 balls bowled) have had batters leave a higher percentage of their deliveries than any other players in BBL|15 (min. 10 balls bowled).
\nPeter Siddle (Melbourne Stars) has bowled 48 deliveries in BBL15, the most of any player without being hit for a six in the campaign, while Stars teammate Mitchell Swepson (42) has bowled the most deliveries of any player yet to take a wicket.
\nWhat’s on the line?<\/p>\n
\n ![\"Melbourne](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/1753503308_17_placeholder.png\")
\n Melbourne Stars Men
\n STA<\/p>\n
\n 2
\n 0
\n 0
\n 0
\n 1.541
\n 0
\n 4<\/p>\n
\n
\n Hobart Hurricanes Men
\n HUR<\/p>\n
\n 2
\n 1
\n 0
\n 0
\n 0.45
\n 0
\n 4<\/p>\n
\n
\n Sydney Sixers Men
\n SIX<\/p>\n
\n 1
\n 2
\n 0
\n 0
\n 0.569
\n 0
\n 2<\/p>\n
\n
\n Perth Scorchers Men
\n SCO<\/p>\n
\n 1
\n 1
\n 0
\n 0
\n 0.365
\n 0
\n 2<\/p>\n
\n
\n Sydney Thunder Men
\n THU<\/p>\n
\n 1
\n 2
\n 0
\n 0
\n -0.258
\n 0
\n 2<\/p>\n
\n
\n Adelaide Strikers Men
\n STR<\/p>\n
\n 1
\n 1
\n 0
\n 0
\n -0.376
\n 0
\n 2<\/p>\n
\n
\n Brisbane Heat Men
\n HEA<\/p>\n
\n 1
\n 2
\n 0
\n 0
\n -0.755
\n 0
\n 2<\/p>\n
\n
\n Melbourne Renegades Men
\n REN<\/p>\n
\n 1
\n 1
\n 0
\n 0
\n -1.331
\n 0
\n 2<\/p>\n