Sublime Sixers blitz Stars to earn final spot
MELBOURNE STARS V SYDNEY SIXERS
THIS was the Big Crash of the Big Bash.
Yet for Melbourne Stars it was simply another rehash. The Stars — historical kings of the home-and-away season — are now 2-8 in the games that matter most.
When it comes to the finals they are anything but Stars. They morph into the Melbourne Cards, such is the ease with which they fold.
Last night’s 43-run loss to Sydney hit their maiden title hopes for Sixers. In the club’s 95th game it failed to reach 100 runs for the first time, all-out for a franchise-low 99.
Sixers skipper Moises Henriques conceded that the target of 143 at the MCG was well under-par, and yet it proved to be plenty, just like Melbourne Renegades’ 5-145 in last year’s Grand Final. When Josh Hazlewood’s yorker castled Nathan Coulter-Nile the Stars were 7-66, and that ball marked nine overs since they’d hit a boundary. At that point the Stars had lost 14-106 from their past 20 overs across two finals.
It was more madcap batting from a line-up that is either Marcus Stoinis and Glenn Maxwell or bust. Well, that’s now four consecutive games where it’s gone bust.
It was a modest performance to match the embarrassing MCG crowd of 13,275, a figure that will leave administrators seeing red today.
The SCG has won hosting rights for next week’s Grand Final and the Stars will have to bounce back against either the Strikers or the Thunder — whoever wins at Adelaide Oval tonight — to earn a second crack at the Sixers.