Babar Azam graces the MCG as the Stars and Sixers renew their fierce rivalry
Melbourne Stars v Sydney Sixers: match preview
Match facts
Who: Melbourne Stars v Sydney Sixers
What: Match 27, KFC BBL|15
Where: MCG, Melbourne
When: Thursday, January 8. Bat flip at 6.30pm AEDT, first ball at 7.15pm AEDT
How to watch: Channel Seven, 7plus, Fox Cricket, Kayo Sports
Listen: ABC, SEN Radio. Listen in standard and real-time with no delay to live play via Cricket Radio on the CA Live app. Find out more here
Buy tickets: Tickets are on sale here
Live scores: Match Centre
Highlights, news and reactions after the match: cricket.com.au, the CA Live and Big Bash apps
Officials: Drew Crozier and Mitch Claydon (field), Mike Graham-Smith (third), Bede Sajowitz (fourth), Bob Parry (match referee)
Match squads
Melbourne Stars: Marcus Stoinis (c), Hilton Cartwright, Tom Curran, Sam Hain, Sam Harper, Liam Hatcher, Campbell Kellaway, Glenn Maxwell, Blake Macdonald, Hamish McKenzie, Haris Rauf, Tom Rogers, Peter Siddle, Mitch Swepson
Unchanged
The Stars take an unchanged squad into their second MCG match in five days, after going down to the Renegades in the Melbourne Derby on Jan 4.
Sydney Sixers: Moises Henriques (c), Sean Abbott, Babar Azam, Sam Curran, Joel Davies, Ben Dwarshuis, Jack Edwards, Daniel Hughes, Hayden Kerr, Ben Manenti, Mitch Perry, Josh Philippe, Lachlan Shaw, Jordan Silk
Ins: Sam Curran Outs: Kane Richardson (omitted)
World Cup winning allrounder Sam Curran joins the BBL for the first time, fresh off a player of the match performance and winning the ILT20 final for the Desert Vipers. Curran was 74* in the final, coming in at number 4 and will add significant all-round depth for the Sixers. The Englishman is available for the Sixers for the remainder of the home and away season.
Curran was drafted as a platinum player in the second round (pick 14) of the 2025 BBL Draft.
Club news
Melbourne Stars
Sydney Sixers
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Players to watch
Peter Siddle (Stars): The evergreen quick took three wickets during their win over the Sixers at the SCG on Boxing Day and another two when they beat them during their last encounter at the MCG last season. With 12 wickets in BBL|15, Siddle leads the Stars alongside Haris Rauf (12) this season with the 41-year-old showing no signs of slowing down.
Joel Davies (Sixers): The 22-year-old allrounder's two wickets and career-best 35 not out to lead the Sixers over the line in a low-scoring thriller against the Heat was Davies breakthrough Big Bash moment. He's made the most of his limited opportunities in his Sixers career so far (14 matches), also producing his career-best bowling figures this season (3-24), so could this be the catalyst for him to take the competition by storm?
Top performers
Most Runs
BBL|15 BKT Golden Bat
| Player | Total |
|---|---|
1
Finn Allen
F Allen
|
466 |
|
2
David Warner
D Warner
|
433 |
|
3
Sam Harper
S Harper
|
381 |
|
4
Mitch Marsh
M Marsh
|
360 |
|
5
Aaron Hardie
A Hardie
|
339 |
|
6
Matthew Renshaw
M Renshaw
|
324 |
|
7
Ben McDermott
B McDermott
|
322 |
|
8
Josh Brown
J Brown
|
311 |
Most Wickets
BBL|15 BKT Golden Arm
| Player | Total |
|---|---|
|
1
Haris Rauf
H Rauf
|
20 |
|
2
Jack Edwards
J Edwards
|
19 |
|
3
Gurinder Sandhu
G Sandhu
|
18 |
|
4
Tom Curran
T Curran
|
16 |
|
5
Peter Siddle
P Siddle
|
16 |
|
6
Ben Dwarshuis
B Dwarshuis
|
16 |
|
7
Xavier Bartlett
X Bartlett
|
15 |
|
8
Lloyd Pope
L Pope
|
15 |
Most sixes scored
BBL|15
| Player | Total |
|---|---|
|
1
Finn Allen
F Allen
|
38 |
|
2
Josh Brown
J Brown
|
20 |
|
3
Mitch Marsh
M Marsh
|
20 |
|
4
David Warner
D Warner
|
20 |
|
5
Nikhil Chaudhary
N Chaudhary
|
17 |
|
6
Matthew Renshaw
M Renshaw
|
17 |
|
7
Ashton Turner
A Turner
|
16 |
|
8
Sam Harper
S Harper
|
15 |
Local knowledge
Rapid stats
- Melbourne Stars won their last home match against Sydney Sixers last season after losing to them five times in a row at the MCG prior to that, dating back to January 2020.
- The Stars have won their past two matches against the Sixers after only winning one of their previous 12 against them prior to that, dating back to that January 2020 match at the MCG in BBL|09.
- The Stars will be aiming to defeat the Sixers twice in a single season for only the second time in the history of the competition (won two in 2018-19) following their seven-wicket win over them at the SCG on Boxing Day.
- Sydney Sixers have won three of their past four BBL matches, including each of their two games in 2026; the last time the Sixers started a calendar year on a longer winning run was a three-match span in 2020.
- Each of the Melbourne Stars' past six BBL matches have been won by the team bowling first on the day; the Stars have won four of those six games.
- Joel Davies (Sydney Sixers) has scored 30-plus runs without being dismissed in each of his past two BBL batting innings (34no v Melbourne Renegades and 35no v Brisbane Heat. He has also taken eight wickets at an average of 11 across his past five bowling innings in the competition.
- Peter Siddle (Melbourne Stars) has taken 13 wickets at a strike rate of 12.5 across his past seven BBL bowling innings, recording at least one wicket in each of those seven innings including figures of 3-23 the last time he faced the Sydney Sixers on Boxing Day this season.
- Sydney Sixers captain Moises Henriques (98) is two away from registering 100 sixes in the Big Bash.
- Melbourne Stars import Haris Rauf (48) is two away from reaching 50 BBL wickets, while Glenn Maxwell (46) is four wickets away from the same milestone.
- If selected, Peter Siddle will notch his 100th BBL appearance in this match, while Daniel Hughes will play his 100th match for Sydney Sixers.
What's on the line?
Two straight losses and the Stars have lost their grip on the top of the BBL|15 table and have been overtaken by the Hurricanes and Scorchers. While four early wins has them well-placed to play finals again, they'll be eager to rediscover that form as the business end of the campaign approaches. The Sixers have returned to the top four with two wins on the bounce after a slow start to the season. But with the teams around them also on three wins, the finals race is heating up.
KFC BBL|15 standings
| Team | M | W | L | T | N/R | NRR | Ded. | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1
SCO
|
10 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1.363 | 0 | 14 |
|
2
SIX
|
10 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0.605 | 0 | 13 |
|
3
HUR
|
10 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0.331 | 0 | 13 |
|
4
STA
|
10 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.759 | 0 | 12 |
|
5
HEA
|
10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | -0.431 | 0 | 10 |
|
6
STR
|
10 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 0 | -0.231 | 0 | 8 |
|
7
REN
|
10 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 0 | -1.202 | 0 | 6 |
|
8
THU
|
10 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 0 | -1.212 | 0 | 4 |
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
T: Ties
N/R: No results
NRR: Net Run Rate
Ded.: Deductions
PTS: Total points