Sixers hold off Scorchers

The Sydney Sixers have defeated Twenty20 Big Bash leaders the Perth Scorchers by one run in a grandstand finish at the SCG on Wednesday.

The Scorchers needed 13 runs off Brett Lee's last over after the Sixers had looked well and truly home having made 176 after electing to bat.

That was until Moises Henriques was blasted for 21 runs off the third last over after bowling two no balls that were hit for four and six respectively.

But Scorchers' paceman Nathan Coulter-Nile could not get Marcus North (59 off 52 balls) on strike in the last over and he was run out, with the former needing three runs from the last delivery.

Lee looked to have wrapped up the match when Coulter-Nile chopped onto his stumps from the second last ball but it was deemed a no ball. He followed that with a wide to set up the tense finale.

Earlier, Test quick Mitchell Starc tore through the Scorchers' top order to turn the game in the Sixers' favour with three wickets in five balls to peg the visitors back to 3-34 after they had made a steady start in reply to Sydney's 176.

Nic Maddinson's 49 and Steve Smith's rapid half century set up the Sixers' innings before Starc skittled the Scorchers' star-studded top order. North chipped away at his 45-ball half century for the Scorchers. 

Under-fire Brad Haddin did little to grasp a golden opportunity to make some runs for the Sixers ahead of Australia's fourth Test with India in Adelaide, making way for a two-ball duck.

In the end his innings was ineffectual with Starc doing the damage with the back-to-back wickets of the Marsh brothers, Shaun and Mitch, and that of Paul Collingwood three balls later, all in the fifth over.

Shaun Marsh was unlucky to edge a full ball onto his stumps for 18 and was closely followed back to the pavilion by younger brother Mitch for a golden duck from a sublime delivery.

Starc pitched it full with swing and the ball crept straight through Mitch Marsh's defence to rip out middle stump.

The left-armer almost had a hat-trick with the Sixers going up with a collective appeal for lbw but Collingwood was adjudged to have caught an edge on the way through and his blushes were spared.

Only for two balls though, with the menacing Starc producing an almost identical ball to the one that trapped Mitch Marsh at the crease - full with late swing back into leg stump.

From 3-34 off five overs, North and Simon Katich (31) provided resistance for the shell-shocked Scorchers before he was run out by Moises Henriques.

For the Sixers, Haddin lasted two balls before he was dismissed for a duck by Michael Beer, flaying an arm ball through to the keeper while attempting to guide to third man.

Fellow Sixers' opener Michael Lumb soon followed him for three when he was trapped lbw by a brilliant yorker from Nathan Coulter-Nile as the hosts made a rocky start to fall to 2-22.

At that stage Maddinson had started to find his range with a trio of boundaries and his innings became all the more crucial.

The 20-year-old smashed back-to-back sixes off Ben Edmondson's first over and carted Coulter-Nile in the next to race to 40 off 23 balls, with all but three of the Sixes' total.

The youngster fell just a run shy of his half century while pulling straight to deep backward square leg. Veteran Brad Hogg found a little extra bounce to take the wicket with Edmondson making no mistake with the catch.

With the Sixers well placed Henriques and Smith added 35 for the fourth wicket.

Henriques provided the graft with 31 off 33 before he was dismissed by the same Hogg-Edmondson combination while Smith provided the fireworks, with a quick-fire 51 off 25 deliveries before he unluckily chopped a ball off his pads and onto the stumps with the score 5-142.

The tail fell over for just 34 runs to be all out for 176 after Dominic Thornely had added a handy 19 off just eight deliveries.