Sam Harper ton makes it three from three for Stars
@B0$
Melbourne Stars continued to remain unbeaten in BBL 15 following a thumping win over Sydney Sixers, condemning them to their third loss of the season already. Sixers made a shaky start when Tom Curran troubled Babar Azam before eventually dismissing him for just 2. While the likes of Josh Philippe, Moises Henriques and Jordan Silk continued to stutter, Daniel Hughes was the lone man fighting for the home side.
Hughes hit an impressive half-century but once he was dismissed for a 42-ball 60 by Curran, Stars were all over the home team. Veteran Peter Siddle removed Henriques and Silk in quick succession as Sixers went from 90/2 to 118/6. From thereon, no recovery was in sight as the Sixers were bundled out for 144. Sean Abbott then bowled a peach in the opening over to castle Joe Clarke for a duck to give Sixers some hope of a fightback but Sam Harper quickly took charge to ensure Stars stayed on top.
It was a one-man show at the SCG as Harper took Sixers to the cleaners with the likes of Campbell Kellaway and Jonathan Merlo playing second fiddle. Harper hammered six sixes and ended up smashing an impressive ton. He remained unbeaten until the end, scoring over 75% of the target as Stars got the job done with 15 balls to spare.
@B1$: Sydney Sixers 144 in 20 overs (Daniel Hughes 60; Peter Siddle 3/23, Tom Curran 3/26) lost to Melbourne Stars 145/3 in 17.3 overs (Sam Harper 110*; Joel Davies 2/16) by 7 wickets
@B2$
Defending champions Hobart Hurricanes picked up a nervy win over Perth Scorchers to remain in the second spot in the BBL standings. After Mitchell Marsh's departure, Finn Allen looked in blazing touch for Scorchers smashing three fours and three sixes. However, once he fell for 43, the hosts fell apart. Cooper Connolly had a poor outing with the bat and the likes of Aaron Hardie and Ashton Turner departed for single-digit scores.
The spin duo of Rishad Hossain and Rehan Ahmed applied the brakes in the middle overs with regular strikes as Scorchers failed to recover. Rishad picked up key wickets of Connolly, Hardie and later Laurie Evans to finish with a three-fer. If not for Evans' cameo and Nick Hobson's handy 29, Scorchers wouldn't have gotten anywhere closer to the 150/8 they eventually finished with. Connolly then made amends with the ball when he dismissed Mitch Owen second ball, after conceding a six off the first.
Tim Ward's scratchy outing came to an end early as well as the Hurricanes found themselves in trouble. Connolly also put Ben McDermott out of his misery as was trapped lbw for a 16-ball 9 to leave Hurricanes reeling at 39/3 in the eighth over. While Nikhil Chaudhary fought hard, it needed an injection from Tim David for Hurricanes to get back into the contest. David shifted the game completely with his 28-ball 42 before his injury paved the way for Scorchers to fight back. Macalister Wright and Chris Jordan however hit handy boundaries to guide the contest into the final over where Nathan Ellis finally got his side home.
@B3$: Perth Scorchers 150/8 in 20 overs (Finn Allen 43; Rishad Hossain 3/33) lost to Hobart Hurricanes 153/6 in 19.3 overs (Tim David 42; Cooper Connolly 3/23) by 4 wickets
