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Match Report:

Scorecard

Stunning Sixers romp into Big Final

Nic Maddinson scored the runs and a dominant bowling attack did the rest in front of a record Adelaide Oval crowd

Sydney Sixers are into their second KFC T20 Big Bash League final after a clinical performance dismantled minor premiers Adelaide Strikers in front of a stunned Adelaide crowd of 52,633.

Maddinson was outstanding for his 84

Nic Maddinson was the star of the show for the Sixers, who now also qualify for next year’s lucrative Champions League tournament, blasting 85 from just 48 deliveries to propel the visitors to 4-181 – a total the Strikers never looked like getting close to.

In the end, they were bowled out for a paltry 94 in their maiden BBL finals appearance, as Johan Botha’s side suffered just a second defeat of what had until then been a memorable season.

The writing was on the wall for the Strikers almost from the moment their first wicket fell, as Craig Simmons was caught behind from the bowling of Sean Abbott.

Thereafter, it was a procession, as the biggest crowd ever for a cricket match at the Adelaide Oval watched their side stumble in the face of scoreboard pressure and a more experienced finals opponent.

Only veteran Brad Hodge (20) and tailender Ben Laughlin (22) contributed more than 15 as the Strikers bowed out of the tournament with barely a whimper.

Earlier, Michael Lumb (32 off 19) and new opening partner Riki Wessels (24 off 24) got off to a blistering start, creaming 41 from the initial stages as they laid the platform for a massive total.

Lumb looked every chance of taking the innings by the scruff of the neck until he was run out, and after copping a nasty blow that lodged between the grille and peak of his helmet, Wessels was undone by a Shaun Tait yorker to leave the Sixers at 2-72 in the 10th over.

It was an outstanding spell from Tait, who took 1-13 off three overs to put the brakes on the visitors’ rapid opening.

Maddinson then picked up the slack, pacing his innings intelligently as he moved clear of his peers as the man with the most sixes in BBL|04, bringing up his 50 with a fourth maximum of the innings and 15th of the tournament.

The left-hander then raced to 85 from 48 deliveries to push the Sixers innings along impressively, finding the fence regularly before being bowled by Kane Richardson.

The Strikers got the double breakthrough courtesy of Ben Laughlin, who trapped in-form danger man Jordan Silk plumb lbw for three.

Sixers skipper Moises Henriques (27 not out off 19) and keeper-batsman Ryan Carters (eight not out off five) then continued the momentum, pushing the fourth-placed side to a total that the Strikers never threatened.

Doug Bollinger weighed in with three wickets, Abbott took 2-14 and spinners Steve O’Keefe (2-17) and Nathan Lyon, who was particularly impressive in taking 2-26, were all among the multiple wicket-takers as the Strikers offered multiple skied chances to the Sixers fieldsmen who gleefully accepted the offerings as the contest became increasingly one-sided.

The Sixers now face the winner of the Perth Scorchers and Melbourne Stars at Manuka Oval in Canberra on Wednesday at 7.40pm.