Sixers' turnaround a team tale

Momentum. That’s all it takes in the fast and furious world of Twenty20 cricket.

Twenty-seven days ago the Sixers played their seventh game of the inaugural Rebel Women’s Big Bash, and their first at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

They arrived at the historic ground all but out of finals contention, their team nailed to the bottom of the ladder.

Watch: Healy's nifty stumping

Less than a month later and their season has swung full-circle as the Sixers continue a turnaround of Homeric proportions.

In beating the Thunder today - a resounding victory of 21 runs despite a defiantly explosive innings of 53 off 35 from the Thunder's Nicola Carey - the Sixers now have seven wins on the trot.

Race for WBBL finals: Results ensure there's plenty to play for on Sunday

The Sixers' batting innings was one that was perfectly formed. A dynamic partnership between Alyssa Healy (44) and Ashleigh Gardner (55) provided a strong platform early on before Sara McGlashan, New Zealand’s most capped international, came in with some clean striking of her own.

Watch: Healy hands Sixers strong start

McGlashan McSmashed them in an unbeaten knock of 49 which came off just 22 balls and included eight fours and one six, the maximum coming from the last ball of the innings when she advanced down the pitch and launched one beyond the outstretched arms of deep midwicket.

Watch: McGlashan smashes them

Earlier in the innings, after Healy had got the Sixers off to a flying start with three fours off the first over, Gardner had entered for an out-of-sorts Perry and promptly started to out-strike the Southern Stars wicketkeeper.

After two dots, Gardner’s first boundary came. From there on in the run-flow was constant. While the young Sydney batter had the big shots in her repertoire - she tonked one six over long-off and another over long-on - it was the lack of dots she faced that really stood out.

Each boundary was punctuated by a flurry of ones and twos as both she and Healy ran hard and fast between the wickets.

Watch: Gardiner strikes big fifty for Sixers

The Thunder put on a spirited chase in the middle overs of their innings after a partnership of 81 runs between Carey and Erin Osborne briefly reignited hopes of an unlikely victory. 

“I don't think it was too big,” Carey said of the Sixers' mammoth total. “It was a really nice wicket to bat on, so going into that innings we thought we might be able to get there.

“But I suppose losing four wickets early on didn’t really help and we were behind the eight ball from there.”

It was a disciplined bowling and fielding performance by the Sixers, spearheaded by in-form South African international Marizanne Kapp (4-18), which ensured that the Thunder, in the end, didn’t get anywhere close.

Watch: Passionate Kapp captures four

The fielding was a key difference between the two sides; one piece of glovework in particular by Healy, the Southern Stars and Sixers keeper, was a delight to watch as she snatched a wide down leg-side - planned or otherwise - and niftly side-stepped back to whip the bails off before dangerwoman Naomi Stalenberg could return to her crease.

The Thunder, by contrast, so calm and composed in the warm-up when the spotlight wasn’t upon them, failed to hold on to catches on the big stage.

Catch after catch went down - first at extra-cover, then out on the boundary, followed by a flailing dive at mid-on. Some were tough, others weren’t - but none of their efforts were penned into the scorebook.

“I do think that some of our catches were fairly costly in the end,” admitted Carey. “We did speak about wanting to be one of the best fielding teams, if not the best, in the competition.

“We definitely did not today. So if we can hold onto those catches that we didn’t today then who knows, maybe they would have got a little bit less. In the end we didn’t and it cost us.”

Watch: Carey smashes fifty for Thunder

The Sixers couldn’t believe their luck and promptly decided to ride it, playing with freedom, timing and extraordinary power.

The home side’s enormous total was the second-highest score in the WBBL, behind only the Brisbane Heat’s 190, dished out against the Sixers themselves back in December.

Then, the Sixers were in the middle of a disastrous start to the tournament. That all seems like a distant nightmare however, because, as social media keeps on reminding us, the #sixersaregoingvertical.

Last week Sixers captain Ellyse Perry remarked that the Sixers ascension up the ladder of the WBBL wasn't quite as remarkable as the USA’s 2013 comeback in the America's Cup. In that instance Oracle Team USA reversed a deficit of 1-8 to beat New Zealand 9-8. The Sixers in turn have transformed a 0-6 score to 7-6. Surely the comparison can now be made.

The Thunder’s innings on the other hand couldn’t have got off to a worse start. Their inability to chase a total has developed into a worrying trend for the ladies in lime, who appear unable to remain calm under pressure and trust the batting firepower they possess on paper.

Watch: Smith's screamer sparks Sixers

Yesterday they lost four wickets in four balls in the final overs of their loss to the Stars. Today again they lost wickets in clusters - if one goes, they all go.

The Sixers’ Marizanne Kapp continued her fine bowling form to pick up four wickets and now has figures of 7-27 in two matches at the SCG, or 'Fortress Kapp' as she might fondly remember. Her three overs at the start provided the killer blow when she found herself on a hat-trick after trapping Alex Blackwell lbw for a golden duck in the fifth over. From 4-25, as Carey admitted, the Thunder were never realistically likely to recover.

Watch: Sthalekar snares three

The table is now wide open and the Sixers, remarkably, are odds-on for a finals spot. The Thunder remain second and should make it too, but for the 12,220 strong-crowd at the SCG today, it was a case of paint the town pink.