Player of the Match
Player of the Match
2123dThe Report by Kanishkaa Balachandran

Sydney Sixers in final after nailbiter

Fortunes ebbed and flowed in true Twenty20 style in Centurion, as Sydney Sixers scripted a final-ball jailbreak to set up a title clash with Lions on Sunday

Match Centre

Statistics

Best performances - Batsmen

D Wiese
D Wiese
61(28) 6x4 - 4x6
Control %80%
  • Productive Shot
  • leg glance
  • 22 runs
  • 2x4 - 2x6
4 4 10 8 1 10 9 11
H Davids
H Davids
59(44) 3x4 - 3x6
Control %86%
  • Productive Shot
  • off side drive on front foot
  • 23 runs
  • 0x4 - 1x6
1 0 8 3 15 11 16 5

Best performances - Bowlers

MA Starc
MA Starc
O4
M0
R33
W2
Eco8.25
RHB
OFFLEG
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
AC Thomas
O4
M0
R36
W2
Eco9.00
RHB
OFFLEG
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF

Scorer: Binoy George | Commentator: Sidharth Monga

END OF OVER:
20 | 8 Runs 1 Wkt | SS: 164/8 | RR: 8.20

  • Pat Cummins14 (10b)
  • Mitchell Starc0 (1b)
  • Cornelius de Villiers3-0-31-1
  • Alfonso Thomas4-0-36-2

"How splintered would a south african cricket heart be? really." Andy Clarke, I am being told that the all-woman scoring crew at Supersport Park are in tears. That's how splintered, perhaps

That's all we have from the incredible semi-final tonight. It was a night when nerves and skill met to produce a match that kept twisting and turn, and if the final is something similar not many will complain. See you on the final night then. Cheers

Quotes from presentation
"Opening the batting was good fun," says MoM Steve O'Keefe. "Hadds came to me three days ago if I wanted to open, and I jumped at the opportunity. Probably the first time I have been Man of the Match without taking a wicket, but I will take it. Not our most clinical performance, but we have a final coming up." "We got our jail-free card," says Brad Haddin. "No matter what format you play, you have got to execute your skills. e panicked a bit, I think, but we are going into the final. We can think of anything of this game, but the bottom line is we have a final to play this Sunday. We have played Lions before, and they are similarly stacked as us. I think the two best teams have made it to the final."

"Really disappointed," says Martin van Jaarsveld. "but really proud how we kept fighting. With the bat we were down and out. I have been talking him up through the tournament, and boy did he shine tonight. Our execution up top is not where we'd like it to be, and that's where we lost. A bitter pill to swallow."

What a match then. It refused to go down a straight line. Drunk people stagger less. Spare a thought for David Wiese who brought Titans back in with the crazy hitting, which brought them 72 runs off the last four overs of the innings. And then Sixers chased as if they needed to win in 16 overs. And it kept coming off for a while. Before they could kill it off, though, they began to lose wickets. And in the final equation, how costly was that dropped catch off the last ball of the 19th over. Forget the wicket, it's the two extra runs. I wouldn't want to feel what Farhan Behardien is feeling right now. And how apt that it was Cummins's desperation that saw Sixers through. It was his ordinary - rare event -bowling that put Sixers in this trouble. It was his scrambling that pulled them out

19.6
1b
de Villiers to Cummins, 1 bye, Sixers have done in. Kuhn had a great chance, but he has missed it. De Villiers looks up at the sky in despair. Slower bouncer, Cummins is beaten, Kuhn collects it clean on the bounce, and has enough time to line up the stumps, but he misses them by a long way. Starc dives in, but that would have been to no avail had Kuhn hit them direct. And what of Cummins? He collides with de Villiers, and even when down on his knees, eh stumbles into the crease. What desperation from Cummins and Starc

Lot of thought being put in here. Kuhn wants to stand up to the stumps, CJD doesn't look happy with it. Van der Merwe and de Villiers having a chat. Kuhn has gone back now. Not a single body in the crowd

19.5
1lb
de Villiers to Starc, 1 leg bye, if Titans are to win this, they will have to do it through a Super Over. Short ball, into the body, hits his arm, and goes nowhere, but they sneak in the leg-bye. Scores are level

CJD is back up, and he has the new man on strike. Mitch Starc it is. Mid-off and mid-on both up

19.4
1lb
de Villiers to Cummins, 1 leg bye, de Villiers has hurt himself here. Cummins tries the big slog, the ball hits the pad but goes nowhere. They are stealing the leg-bye, de Villiers runs in, wants to kick the ball onto the stumps, but lands on the ball and has gone down

Three off three now

19.3
2
de Villiers to Cummins, 2 runs, low full toss, luckily for Titans he has hit this to deep midwicket. But that's not the half of this. Cummins wants a second from the moment he has touched the ball, and he goes for it. The throw is wide, Kuhn does well to collect it down the wicket with one glove off and then hits the stumps direct, but Cummins has made it by a frame
19.3
1w
de Villiers to Cummins, 1 wide, oh de Villiers. He has bowled a big wide outside off. Fine leg and square leg were in the ring. Did they have anything to do with this?

Right boys, you quicks, you conceded all those runs in the last few overs. Now go an get them. Cummins is on strike. He has broken South African hearts in a Test in Jo'burg once. Will he do the same here?

19.2
W
de Villiers to Rohrer, OUT, Cause an eruption is what it will do. Rohrer gets a length ball on off with mid-off up, and he sees the opportunity to close the game here. He is slightly early into the shot, and hits it straight to van der Merwe at mid-off who takes this lowish catch with fingers pointing up

BJ Rohrer c van der Merwe b de Villiers 21 (33m 24b 1x4 0x6) SR: 87.50

What will a wicket do to the crowd?

Sixers 2nd innings Partnerships

WktRunsPlayers
1st54MJ LumbSNJ O'Keefe
2nd31SNJ O'KeefeNJ Maddinson
3rd7BJ HaddinNJ Maddinson
4th0SPD SmithNJ Maddinson
5th21MC HenriquesSPD Smith
6th19MC HenriquesBJ Rohrer
7th0NL McCullumBJ Rohrer
8th26BJ RohrerPJ Cummins
9th6MA StarcPJ Cummins

Champions League Twenty20

Group A
TeamMWLPTNRR
DC420121.44
TITNS42110-0.017
KKR41260.488
PS4126-0.474
AUCK4126-0.963
Group B
TeamMWLPTNRR
SS440161.656
LIONS431120.14
CSK4228-0.049
MI4032-0.471
YORKS4032-1.791
Qualifying Pool 1
TeamMWLPTNRR
AUCK22081.904
Sia2114-0.511
HANTS2020-1.331
Qualifying Pool 2
TeamMWLPTNRR
YORKS22080.507
UvNxt2012-0.244
T&T2012-0.777