Qualifier preview: Perth Scorchers v Sydney Sixers

2h ago Jack Paynter & Chris Nice

It's one-v-two as the Scorchers host the Sixers at Optus Stadium for a spot in the BBL|15 Final

Match facts

Who: Perth Scorchers v Sydney Sixers

What: The Qualifier, KFC BBL|15

Where: Optus Stadium, Perth

When: Tuesday, January 20. Bat flip at 3.45pm local (6.45pm AEDT), first ball at 4.30pm local (7.30pm 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: Sam Nogajski and Gerard Abood (field), Ben Treloar (third), Troy Penman (fourth), Simon Fry (match referee)

Match squads

Perth Scorchers: Ashton Turner (c), Finn Allen, Mahli Beardman, Cooper Connolly, Brody Couch, Laurie Evans , Sam Fanning, Aaron Hardie, Nick Hobson, Luke Holt , Josh Inglis, Mitchell Marsh, David Payne, Jhye Richardson

Unchanged

Perth Scorchers have named an unchanged 14-player squad as they attempt to secure a spot in their ninth BBL Final.

Sydney Sixers: Moises Henriques (c), Sean Abbott, Babar Azam, Joel Davies, Ben Dwarshuis, Jack Edwards, Daniel Hughes, Hayden Kerr, Ben Manenti, Josh Philippe, Lachlan Shaw, Jordan Silk, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc

Ins: Jordan Silk Outs: Sam Curran (national selection)

The Sixers will be without star allrounder and player of the match from their previous game, Sam Curran, for the remainder of the tournament. Curran is departing to join England’s squad in Sri Lanka ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup. Jordan Silk returns to the squad in his place.

What they said

“To win the last game and finish on top, it's a nice moment for us to realise that we're going to play in front of our home fans, and we're super pumped”

‐ Cooper Connolly, Scorchers allrounder

“It's a big task going over there (to Perth); they obviously play really well (at Optus Stadium). The Scorchers have been our archrival for some time now and it should be a good game in front of a packed house”

‐ Steve Smith, Sixers batter

Club news

Players to watch

Aaron Hardie (Scorchers): The allrounder's unbeaten 41 to see the Scorchers home over the Stars and into top spot took him into the top five run-scorers this season. Hardie has been ultra consistent in BBL|15, dismissed for less than 20 only three times in 10 innings with a top score of 94 not out against fellow finalists the Hurricanes. The right-hander has remained not out in three of those knocks and he's also chipped in regularly with the ball, taking 10 wickets for the season, including 1-16 when they met the Sixers at Optus Stadium to kick off the season.

Mitchell Starc (Sixers): After a quieter first game back in the BBL for 11 years where David Warner and Matthew Gilkes had his measure early, the Heat felt the full force of the superstar left-armer's wizardry as he decimated their top order to put the Sixers on course for finals qualification. His 4-35 at the Gabba on Sunday were Starc's best figures in 12 BBL matches and the Scorchers will no doubt be wary of Australia's most prolific fast bowler in T20 internationals.

Starc's golden summer continues at the Gabba

Top performers

Most Runs

BBL|15 BKT Golden Bat

Player	Total
1 David Warner D Warner	433
2 Finn Allen F Allen	381
3 Sam Harper S Harper	371
4 Matthew Renshaw M Renshaw	324
5 Aaron Hardie A Hardie	317
6 Josh Brown J Brown	311
7 Mitch Marsh M Marsh	311
8 Liam Scott L Scott	310

Most Wickets

BBL|15 BKT Golden Arm

Player	Total
1 Gurinder Sandhu G Sandhu	18
2 Haris Rauf H Rauf	18
3 Peter Siddle P Siddle	16
4 Tom Curran T Curran	15
5 Xavier Bartlett X Bartlett	15
6 Lloyd Pope L Pope	15
7 Jack Edwards J Edwards	15
8 Nathan Ellis N Ellis	14

Most sixes scored

BBL|15

Player	Total
1 Finn Allen F Allen	33
2 Josh Brown J Brown	20
3 David Warner D Warner	20
4 Mitch Marsh M Marsh	18
5 Matthew Renshaw M Renshaw	17
6 Sam Harper S Harper	15
7 Tim Seifert T Seifert	15
8 Ashton Turner A Turner	15

Local knowledge

Rapid stats

Perth Scorchers will be aiming for consecutive wins against Sydney Sixers in the BBL for the first time since December 2022, following their five-wicket victory when they last met earlier this season (December 14, 2025).
Sydney Sixers have won their past five BBL matches, bowling first on the day in each of those five games; a sixth consecutive win in this match would equal their longest winning run in the history of the competition (also won six in January 2023 and from January to December in 2012).
Sydney Sixers have a catch success rate of 91.5 per cent (54 out of 59 attempts) in BBL|15, the best of any team in the competition. Meanwhile, only Brisbane Heat (20) have dropped more catch attempts this season than Perth Scorchers (16).
Steve Smith has scored 43.3 per cent of the Sixers' runs when he's played this season, the best rate of any player for a team in BBL|15 and more than 10 percentage points higher than the next best player (David Warner – 32.4 per cent for Sydney Thunder).
Batters have played and missed at 22.2 per cent of Joel Paris' (Perth Scorchers) 135 balls bowled in BBL|15, the highest rate of any player in the competition (minimum 55 balls bowled).

What's on the line?

It's only fitting the league's two most successful clubs, the Scorchers (five titles) and Sixers (three) will face off for the first spot in the BBL|15 decider. The winner of the Qualifier goes straight through to the Final, which they will also host on Sunday, January 25.

The loser will get a second crack at qualifying by virtue of finishing in the top two, hosting the Challenger on Friday night against the winner of Wednesday's Knockout between the Hurricanes and Stars.

BBL|15 finals schedule

Qualifier: Perth Scorchers v Sydney Sixers, Optus Stadium (Tuesday, January 20, 7.30pm AEDT)

Knockout: Hobart Hurricanes v Melbourne Stars, Ninja Stadium (Wednesday, January 21, 7.30pm AEDT)

Challenger: Loser of Qualifier v winner of Knockout, TBC (Friday, January 23, 7.15pm AEDT)

Final: Winner of Qualifier v winner of Challenger, TBC (Sunday, January 25, 7.15pm AEDT)

*A reserve day on Monday, January 26 (7.15pm AEDT) is available for the Final

KFC BBL|15 standings

Team	Matches played M	Wins W	Losses L	No results N/R	Net Run Rate NRR	Total points PTS
1 Perth Scorchers Men SCO	10	7	3	0	1.363	14
2 Sydney Sixers Men SIX	10	6	3	1	0.605	13
3 Hobart Hurricanes Men HUR	10	6	3	1	0.331	13
4 Melbourne Stars Men STA	10	6	4	0	0.759	12
5 Brisbane Heat Men HEA	10	5	5	0	-0.431	10
6 Adelaide Strikers Men STR	10	4	6	0	-0.231	8
7 Melbourne Renegades Men REN	10	3	7	0	-1.202	6
8 Sydney Thunder Men THU	10	2	8	0	-1.212	4

M: Matches played

W: Wins

L: Losses

T: Ties

N/R: No results

NRR: Net Run Rate

Ded.: Deductions

PTS: Total points