Steve Smith shines again as Sixers edge Strikers in BBL

Steve Smith has guided the Sydney Sixers to victory for the second BBL match in a row, with the Aussie veteran blazing 52 runs from 31 balls against the Adelaide Strikers on Wednesday.

Set a target of 183 to win and give themselves a shot of finishing top of the table, the Sixers got off to a fast start at the Adelaide Oval courtesy of Smith’s batsmanship.

The opener saw Josh Philippe (8 from 7) and Jack Edwards (8 from 9) fall in front of him, but ensured through his innings that by the time he was back in the shed, Sydney were well ahead in the chase.

All-rounders Lachlan Shaw (32 from 21) and Ben Dwarshuis (30 from 23) then took the Sixers to within sight of the victory line after a brief wobble mid-innings, with the visitors sealing victory on the penultimate ball.

Earlier in the day, Adelaide Strikers had come back from a slow start that had them floundering at 3/35 after five overs.

English import Ollie Pope (57 from 39) struck a much-needed half-century, while Alex Ross (48 from 37) fell two runs short of his own.

The two, combined with some pinch-hitting from Jamie Overton (32 from 14) at the death took the Strikers to a strong total of 5/182 from their 20 overs.

Unable to defend their score, however, the Strikers are now all but out of the BBL title race.

The side sit sixth with six points, two points shy of fourth place with one match to go in the regular season.

Recommended!

The Better Bettors!

Australian-owned and operated bookmaker!

Join MarantelliBet

18+ Gamble Responsibly. THINK. IS THIS A BET YOU REALLY WANT TO PLACE?

Fast Payouts

50% matched deposit up to USD $5,000

Visit BetOnline

Fourth-placed Melbourne Stars also have a game in hand though, while the fifth-placed Brisbane Heat have two games remaining, causing Big Bash bookies to lengthen Adelaide’s odds of making the top four.

Marantelli Bet returns $12 for them to make the post-season, and $67 for them to win the title.

The Sixers, meanwhile, are sitting much prettier.

They are temporarily top of the table with 13 points and a net run-rate of 0.156, and pay odds of $3.20 to win the title across the cricket betting odds.

However, they will need the Hobart Hurricanes to slip up if they are to host a home qualifying final next week.

The Hurricanes have two matches to go, compared to the Sixers’ one, and are level on 13 points.

Cricket bookmakers put them on the first line of betting to claim this year’s trophy as a result, returning $2.62 to win their maiden BBL title.

Sports news