Sixers stun Strikers

The Sydney Sixers all but guaranteed themselves a spot in the KFC T20 Big Bash League finals after beating the Adelaide Strikers by 64 runs on Tuesday night.

Despite only setting the Strikers a modest target of 8-151 batting first at the Adelaide Oval, the Sixers turned in an impressive bowling performance to skittle the hosts for the lowest score of the tournament so far, 87, and claim their fourth win of the tournament.

Moises Henriques top scored for the Sixers with 42 from 37 balls, while spinner Steve O'Keeffe claimed the impressive figures of 3-20 to help set Sydney on their way to victory.

Aiden Blizzard batted valiantly for the Strikers, making 27 from 21, but was sorely lacking in support at the crease, while Alfonso Thomas was the pick of the bowlers in the first inning snaring 3-24 from his four overs.

The Strikers were on the back foot from the second ball of the chase when Stuart MacGill took a diving catch to remove Michael Klinger off the bowling of Brett Lee.

Opening partner Dan Harris was gone four overs later when he had his stumps rattled by O'Keeffe, and some acrobatic fielding from Steve Smith sent Tom Cooper back to the sheds the next over as the Strikers slumped to 3-34.

When Aiden Blizzard was caught in two minds and dinked a simple catch to Smith, things looked dire for the Strikers, and it only got worse two balls later when Aaron O'Brien was trapped LBW by Nathan McCullum.

Borgas soon followed his team-mates back to the pavilion after being stumped off the bowling of O'Keeffe for eight, and from there the result was never in doubt as MacGill and McCullum helped clean up the tail.

Earlier, the Sixers inning got off to a horror start when a mix-up between openers Michael Lumb and Henriques saw the former run out for eight in the third over.

Henriques tired to lift the run rate in the fifth over, smashing O'Brien over cover for the first six of the night.

Maddinson slowly found his feet after arriving at the crease, and did his bit to increase the scoring rate when he hooked Brendan Drew for six in the seventh over. 

Henriques welcomed young spinner Daniel Salpietro into the attack by blasting his first ball for a massive six over midwicket.

Salpietro had the last laugh though when he had the dangerous Maddinson caught by Drew behind point for 31, reducing the Sixers to 2-54 after eight overs.

Reached 2-80 at the halfway mark, the Sixers would have been expecting a total of 170-plus, but a steady stream of wickets and some consistent, accurate bowling from the Strikers restricted their total.

Thomas tipped the scales back in the favour of the Strikers when he dismissed Rohrer and Henriques in the space of two balls in the 13th over, before providing the throw to run out Dominic Thornely in the next over.

Sixers captain Smith failed to hang around in the middle, dismissed for eight by a brilliant diving catch at deep square leg by Salpietro, and two wickets in the final two balls of the innings, including Thomas' third, helped restrict the visitors to 8-151.