Untimely injury costs Stars dearly in Big Bash thriller

An untimely calf injury to Melbourne Stars quick Nathan Coulter-Nile proved a decisive factor in a dramatic finish to an instant KFC BBL classic on the Gold Coast last night, as Sixers captain Dan Hughes played the innings of a lifetime to lead his side to a record-breaking come-from-behind win. 

Set 194 for victory at Metricon Stadium, the Sixers slumped to 2-5 in the second over and while they were never quite out of the contest, the Stars seemed to be sitting pretty after superstar pair Glenn Maxwell and Nicholas Pooran took them to a daunting total of 5-193.

Later, with 39 runs required from the final 15 balls of the Sixers innings, the match appeared all but over, but Hughes continued to fight, even as he lost big-hitting partners Dan Christian, Jason Holder and Carlos Brathwaite along the way. 

It was left to the left-hander – not known for his power-hitting exploits – to start clearing the boundary with regularity, and when he went 4, 6, 6 to close out the 18th over, he had swung the contest back in favour of the Sixers. 

That was until Stars quick Liam Hatcher took two wickets and conceded only three runs from the penultimate over of the match, leaving the equation for an on-strike Hughes at 20 from six balls with just two wickets to work with.

As Hughes spoke mid-pitch with his new partner Steve O'Keefe, it suddenly became evident that the final over would be bowled not by Coulter-Nile – who to that point had 2-14 from three overs – but Stars captain Maxwell.

"I didn't know what had happened to Nath," Hughes said post-match. "He took his hat off to bowl and Maxi said, 'Nah, don't worry about it'. 

"As soon as that happened, I said to 'Sokky' (O'Keefe), 'We're a chance here'."

Hughes promptly dispatched the first three balls of Maxwell's over for 6, 4, 6 to leave the Sixers requiring just four runs from the final three.

He was out the next ball for a stunning 96 from 51 deliveries, caught on the midwicket boundary having fallen just metres short of hitting the winning maximum. Ultimately it was four fortunate leg byes that sealed the contest in the Sixers' favour, the Sydney side overcoming their Melbourne rivals just as they did in last summer's BBL|09 final. 

Afterwards, it was left to Stars coach David Hussey to explain the mystery behind Coulter-Nile's absence from the bowling crease at the crunch moment. 

"Nath's done a calf strain," Hussey explained. "He said he could try and bowl, and we were encouraging him to do that because he's a competitor and he wants to win, but Glenn (Maxwell) rightly said, 'Mate, it's a 2-3 week injury or if you do more damage by bowling, it might be the rest of the season'.

"So Glenn rightly made that call and unfortunately Nath will miss some games now. We've got a day off tomorrow and we'll see what the medical staff say. 

"Hopefully he's not lost (for the season) because everyone saw what he did tonight – he's red-hot."

Hussey conceded the outcome might well have ended in his side's favour had Coulter-Nile been available, as opposed to watching on helplessly from the dugout. 

"Twenty to win – you'd like to think so," he said. "I think he's one of the world's best T20 players so yeah, you'd like to think so, but the way Daniel Hughes was hitting them, anything could have happened."

Hughes was cool in a crisis, leading the side from the No.4 spot expertly in the absence of regular skipper and second drop Moises Henriques. His seven sixes were the most he has produced in a T20 innings and the 31-year-old admitted afterward he had even surprised himself.

"We kept (the required rate) around 12-13 an over for four or five overs," he said. "Jason (Holder) played beautifully (18 off 11), and then Carlos (Brathwaite, 21 off 12) came in and he did the same thing … so the rate never got too far away from us.

"We just said that if we can take it deep, into the last over and see what happens – there's a 15-20 run over there at some stage. 

"It was just really calm; play it smart, run twos, and pick the right bowlers to go after and we did that really well. 

"I played an innings like that in a trial game (leading into BBL|10) but until that I actually didn't know I had that in me. 

"'DC (new Sixers teammate Dan Christian) and a couple of other blokes have just given me the confidence to go out there in the middle order and play my shots – swing easy, be calm when you need to be, and it came off today. 

"Now that I know that it's there, it's just a matter of trying to repeat it over and over again, so we'll see how we go."