Silly run-outs and tight bowling at the death have helped the Sydney Sixers to a nervy two-run win over the Melbourne Stars on Tuesday night at the SCG.
Dwayne Bravo's 52 from 39 was ably supported by some late hitting from Dominic Thornely (29 from 13) to set up a decent 8 for 166, before the hosts chipped away at regular intervals to hold off the Stars in the final over.
Brett Lee was tasked with the last over of the night with the Stars requiring 15 runs to win, and Chris Simpson got off to the perfect start with a stylish square drive for four.
Mitchell Starc then faced the heat and managed to loft Lee over square leg for another boundary, but the experienced paceman restricted the visitors to three consecutive singles to secure the win.
The result puts the Sixers in the top rung alongside the Hurricanes and the Thunder on four points, having played a game more.
David Hussey looked to have put the Stars in control with a pacey 42 from 30 balls, but sacrificed his wicket when going for a suicidal second run and was dismissed by a sharp direct-hit from Ben Rohrer.
Adam Voges looked to pick up where Hussey left off and while his 31 from 22 balls was equally valuable, he gave up his wicket in the exact same fashion, this time to Maddinson's throw on the boundary.
Some stunning work on the boundary rope from Dwayne Bravo saved a certain six - the West Indian star leaping high to get a hand on Wright's big drive before palming it back in play before falling over the rope.
Bravo's piece of acrobatics was almost matched the very next ball as Michael Lumb raced in to snare Luke Wright with a jumping catch in the deep off Steven Smith's bowling, who finished with crucial figures of 2 for 27 from four overs.
Lee said he was not nervous coming in to bowl the final delivery of the game.
"That's the reason you play sport isn't it?" he said after the game.
"When you've got 30-odd thousand people ... to come down and bowl the last ball when there's only four runs to win, that's the reason why you play sport."
The crafty veteran also praised his side's fielding, saying it played a huge part in the victory while revealing he lost sight of the ball during his sensational catch to dismiss Cameron White.
"It went in the lights (and) I thought it was actually going to go over my head at first (so) I hung back a little bit," he said of the catch off Stuart MacGill's bowling.
"But when it came back out of the lights I thought I'd better have a crack at it and I ended up getting it."
Bravo played down his own brilliance on the boundary rope - but was happy to heap praise on Lee's heroics.
"It's good that all the guys will talk about Brett's catch," he said.
"That was a match-winning catch. It changed the game."
The match had been billed as a battle of the veteran leg-spinners Shane Warne and MacGill, and the wily duo did not disappoint.
It was Warne's first match at the SCG since his final Test match - a victory which secured a 5-0 Ashes whitewash over England in January 2007.
And the occasion of playing at the famous ground clearly got to the 42-year-old.
Warne cut a mysterious figure on the ground, wearing the playing gear of team-mate Rob Quiney. As Warne explained during commentary, he let his kids play with his gear after last week's victory over Brisbane Heat and had not been able to locate them since.
It did not rattle the champion spinner too much, with Warne again providing television commentary of his four over spell before taking the key wicket of Bravo to finish with 1 for 27 as the Sixers were restricted to 9 for 166.
Not to be outdone in the showdown of the aging spinners, MacGill chipped in with 1 for 36 for the Sixers.
ABC/AAP
Tags: sport, twenty20, cricket, sydney-2000, nsw, australia, melbourne-3000, vic First posted December 27, 2011 22:05:08
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