Josh Philippe goes hard at SCG as Sydney Sixers thrash Melbourne Stars in the BBL11 opener

Sydney Sixers beat Melbourne Stars by 152 runs in the BBL 11 opening match thanks to destructive innings from Josh Philippe who played a brilliant 83-run knock.

With Ashes already on the cards, the Australian cricketing season got underway at SCG with the opening clash between Sydney Sixers and Melbourne Stars.
Sixers have defeated Stars in a one-sided match by 152 runs in the tournament opener.

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Going all against the image of a scintillating and exciting T20 league, BBL 11 opener proved to be a low and boring fixture.

After winning the toss, Stars captain Glenn Maxwell opted to bowl first which proved to be the heaviest mistake for him as Sixers with the help of destructive innings from Josh Philippe 83(47), James Vince 44(29) and captain Moises Henriques 76*(38), put a huge total of 213 in their 20 overs. Stars couldn’t do much with the ball, Brody Couch managed to find 2 scalps whereas Rainbird and Maxwell got 1 wicket each.
Chasing the target, Melbourne Stars were never on the way to control their innings as they lost 2 wickets in the very first over even though they never recovered, kept losing wickets and were bowled out for just 61 runs with no batter even touching the 20-run mark. Wicket-keeper batsman Peter Nevill was the highest run-getter (18).
Sydney bowlers did quite a remarkable job as Steve O’Keefe was the best bowler who gave away just 14 runs in his 4 overs and took 4 wickets, Abbott had 3, Kerr got 2 and Tom Curran also got a wicket.
Sixers’ Philippe was adjudged as player of the match for his devastating innings of 83 runs in 47 balls which featured 8 fours and 3 sixes.

The opening match was not as a thriller as people would’ve thought but we hope to witness some clinical T20 cricket performances as can be expected from a high voltage T20 tournament like Big Bash which will have 61 games in total including the final to be played on January 28 at the venue which is yet to be decided.