Sydney Sixers 177 for 5 (Smith 54, Curran 53*, Bartlett 2-32) beat Brisbane Heat 171 for 9 (McSweeney 69*, Neser 35, Starc 4-35, Curran 2-37) by five wickets
Big guns Mitchell Starc and Steven Smith fired Sydney Sixers to a five-wicket victory over Brisbane Heat and one win away from the BBL final. Allrounder Sam Curran also starred with his 2 for 37 and 53 not out off 27 deliveries in the run chase, and was later named the Player of the Match.
Sixers, who have finished second on the ladder, now head west to play Perth Scorchers on Tuesday night in the BBL qualifier with the winner to host Sunday's final. Heat, meanwhile, are out of the finals after losing their first match of the season at home.
Starc (4 for 35) was playing just his 12th BBL game and returned his career-best tournament figures after Sixers bowled first and restricted Heat to 171 for 9. Sixers reached 177 for 5 off 18.4 overs.
A cameo by Michael Neser (35 in 14 balls) gave Heat the impetus to post a competitive total. Their No. 3 Nathan McSweeney held the innings together while wickets fell around him before upping the ante in a mature and unbeaten 69 off 54 deliveries.
In reply, opener Smith - fresh from his blazing century against Sydney Thunder two days earlier - made 54 off 40 before he was bowled by Heat quick Zaman Khan, who had troubled him more than any other bowler. Zaman and Xavier Bartlett bowled superbly in the power surge, where Sixers scored just 13 runs for the loss of Smith.
There was high drama when Neser missed all three stumps to run Curran out and then dropped Lachlan Shaw in the 17th over.
Sixers needed a daunting 28 in the last three overs but Curran swung hard and connected well to secure victory with eight balls remaining.
Smith lost opening partner Babar Azam early in the chase.
Dropped!
— KFC Big Bash League (@BBL) January 18, 2026
Babar Azam was quick to reach Steve Smith after he dropped a very tough chance at The Gabba. #BBL15 pic.twitter.com/U79dwI7OqI
Babar was unhappy two days earlier in the match against Sydney Thunder when Smith knocked back a single so he could keep the strike for the power surge, from which he took 32 runs. Babar appeared to have got over that incident. In the field, Smith dropped what would have been a cracking catch at gully and Babar ran across and gave him an encouraging tap on the back and a few words of support.
Starc's extraordinary record at picking up a wicket in his first over continued when Jack Wildermuth spliced a full toss to cover. Sean Abbott then dismissed Heat skipper Usman Khawaja in his first over. It was Starc's pace, regularly over 140kph, that caused all the trouble. In-form Matt Renshaw was soon out without scoring after a scorching outswinger caught the edge and the Heat were in dire straits at 18 for 3.
Starc got his third wicket in the 15th over when Jimmy Peirson poked a full toss on off stump straight to cover from the first ball of the power surge.
Neser got his eye in for two deliveries and then carted Starc for three consecutive boundaries. He took a liking to Jack Edwards in the next over, hitting two sixes over long-on and a slashed four over cover to breath some life into the Heat innings with the busy McSweeney.
