Sixers prevail in Sydney Smash to open account

Sydney Sixers came up with an allround performance to prevail in the Sydney Smash and open their account in BBL 2025-26. Having lost their opening two games, Sixers picked up a comfortable 47-run win to make sure their rivals Sydney Thunder remain the only winless team in the new campaign.

Daniel Hughes got going for Sixers in the powerplay but Babar Azam made a sedate start, scoring just 7 off 11 balls in the phase. But once Hughes was deceived by a slower ball from Reece Topley, Babar had to step up alongside Josh Philippe. The Australian broke the shackles with a six and then took on Shadab Khan for another six and a four as Sixers positioned themselves at 92/1 at the halfway point.

The two batters continued to make merry with the Philippe leading the charge. The wicketkeeper batter at one point surged ahead of Babar with ease and was the first to get to fifty. The two batters were involved in a massive stand of 140 before Topley finally came back to remove Babar. Sixers managed to score just 26 runs though in the final three overs but still managed to finish with 198/5.

In an eventful start to the chase, Todd Murphy opened the bowling and conceded three successive boundaries before finally getting his man out stumped. David Warner made a scratchy start and didn't get an opportunity to make amends as Jack Edwards stunned the opposition with two wickets in his first over including that of the veteran Australian. At 17/3, Thunder needed a partnership to stabilise things but they kept losing wickets regularly.

Sam Billings and Shadab Khan made handy contributions but Thunder were always behind the required rate. Edwards continued to run through the lineup with regular strikes and eventually finished with a five-wicket haul. After Billings departed for a half-century, Shadab managed to score 41 that just reduced the margin of defeat for Thunder.

Brief scores: Sydney Sixers 198/5 in 20 overs (Josh Philippe 96, Babar Azam 58; Reece Topley 3/41) beat Sydney Thunder 151 in 19.1 overs (Sam Billings 51, Shadab Khan 41; Jack Edwards 5/26, Joel Davies 3/24) by 47 runs