Vince and Murphy lead Sixers past Stars and to the second spot
Stars were in the game at various points, but Murphy first and then Vince and Hughes took the game away from them
AAP
06-Jan-2024
James Vince top-scored in the chase with a 57-ball 79 • Getty Images
Sydney Sixers 160 for 3 (Vince 79, Hughes 41, Boland 2-38) beat Melbourne Stars 156 for 4 (Lawrence 36, Stoinis 34*, Maxwell 31, Murphy 2-15) by seven wickets
Opener James Vince and No. 3 Daniel Hughes were dominant, leading Sydney Sixers to an easy BBL win over Melbourne Stars. Chasing Stars' 156 for 4 on Saturday night at the MCG, Sixers got past the target with 11 balls and seven wickets left.
The result lifted Sixers to second place, and broke a run of rain-affected games and Stars' four-game winning streak. It's an important result, with Sixers third and Stars fourth on eight points apiece going into the game.
Vince and Hughes put on 99 for the second wicket off 67 balls to take the game away from Stars. Vince top-scored with 79 from 57 balls, with 12 fours, while Hughes made 41 from 32 balls four fours and a six.
The game was evenly poised midway through the Sixers' innings, at 68 for 1 in comparison to Stars' 81 for 3 at the same stage. But Sixers were 128 when Hughes was dismissed at the end of the 15th over and the match was as good as over.
Scott Boland returned for Stars and took 2 for 38 from his four overs.
Earlier, Sixers won the toss and after Glenn Maxwell threatened one of his special innings that would have torn the match apart, Todd Murphy responded with an outstanding spell in which he claimed the crucial wicket of the big-hitting Stars captain.
Maxwell came to the crease with his side in early trouble at 41 for 2 in the sixth over.
He quickly went on the warpath and belted four fours and two sixes in his 31 from 14 balls before Murphy struck - Murphy enticed Maxwell with a wide ball and Sean Abbott caught him at deep cover.
Murphy was outstanding, also bowling the in-form Beau Webster for a duck in his 2 for 15 from four overs.
After opener Dan Lawrence was dismissed for 36 in the 14th over, Marcus Stoinis and Hilton Cartwright struggled to find the boundary with any regularity in their 56-run partnership. Cartwright hit a six into the second tier of the Shane Warne Stand off Abbott at the end of the 19th over, before he and Stoinis added some much-needed meat to the innings with three fours in the last over.
Stoinis scored 34 from 30 balls and Cartwright made 29 from 22.
Stars were without wicketkeeper Sam Harper, who was hit on the head while batting at Friday training, but is now out of the hospital. Peter Handscomb took his place behind the wickets as Stars also welcomed back Boland, while Sixers brought back Hughes to great effect.