Philippe and Henriques remove darkness from Sydney Sixers as Melbourne Stars slumped to heaviest ever loss

Steve O’Keefe picked up 4 for 14, together with two within the opening over to verify Stars have been by no means within the hunt

Sydney Sixers 4 for 213 (Philippe 83, Henriques 76*, Sofa 2-36) beat Melbourne Stars 61 (Nevill 18, O’Keefe 4-14, Abbott 3-14, Kerr 2-6) via 152 runs

Philippe begins with a bang
It used to be a relatively chastening wintry weather for Philippe in his first advent to the world set-up. He were given set two times in opposition to New Zealand, however then within the extra unaccustomed prerequisites of West Indies and Bangladesh, his best possible rating used to be 13 in 5 innings to omit the Global Cup squad. Alternatively, within the early a part of the season, he has proven superb shape for Western Australia and again in Sixers’ colors he produced a excellent show. He used to be lagging in the back of James Vince all the way through the preliminary levels however used to be quickly on top of things to convey up a 33-ball fifty. Then he truly reduce unfastened with a brace of sixes within the first of the Energy Surge overs in opposition to Sam Rainbird, the primary of them onto the roof of the pavilion. When he moved into the 80s within the sixteenth over, Sixers’ first BBL hundred used to be at the playing cards however he then misplaced the strike to Henriques and perished to a catch at deep midwicket. Nonetheless, he had set an early marker.

Captain cuts unfastened
Henriques is without doubt one of the maximum spectacular leaders in Australian cricket. He used to be limited to 5 video games remaining season because of being in Australia’s bio-bubble Check squad, however it is not likely he’s going to function this season so must have a complete Sixers’ marketing campaign. He had an implausible platform to construct on after the outlet stand of 90 between Philippe and Vince. He without a doubt made essentially the most of it after having a look in excellent contact all the way through a warm-up sport in opposition to Sydney Thunder remaining week. His first boundary got here off his fourth ball and he reached a 29-ball fifty with a mighty immediately power off Sam Elliott. He completed one wanting his career-best.

Stars’ bowling appears skinny
Heading into the season, the foremost questions have been round Stars’ assault regardless of the presence of Adam Zampa. Their aspect for this sport additionally suffered the lack of Stoinis with a facet pressure. The tempo bowling is particularly stretched with Billy Stanlake and Liam Hatcher injured whilst Nathan Coulter-Nile is unavailable. Elliott and Brody Sofa, on his birthday, made their T20 debuts as did Pakistan left-arm wristspinner Syed Faridoun who used to be enjoying the primary skilled fit of his profession. Sofa’s two overs went for 15 and 13 even though he did have Vince dropped off a skier that neither the bowler nor wicketkeeper Peter Nevill may grasp onto. Sofa did display excellent composure in sending down the overall over and opened his wicket tally.

Blown away
If this does turn out to be O’Keefe’s ultimate season, he has began in a grand way via claiming Joe Clarke and Nick Larkin in his first over. Stars’ slimmest of hopes rested with Glenn Maxwell however he used to be wiped clean up via Sean Abbott within the powerplay to go away them 3 for 18. O’ Keefe may do no incorrect as he claimed a impressive catch at deep 3rd to take away Nevill and a ball later Hayden Kerr discovered himself on a hat-trick. He used to be now not right away given the danger of his 3rd, and as an alternative, Abbott were given the ball and claimed two wickets in 3 balls. In a last signal of ways the sport panned, O’Keefe bowled a hat-trick ball with two shut catchers. Tournaments are not received and misplaced at the opening night time however Stars will need to transfer on from this one briefly.