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Match Report:

Scorecard

Philippe stars as Sixers show class to cruise past Scorchers

Perth Scorchers exploded out of the blocks but the class of the Sydney Sixers shone through as they put the brakes on with the ball before a Josh Philippe masterclass

The match in a tweet: Sixers show their clash to claw back runaway Perth Scorchers with the ball, then knock off target with fuss-free T20 cricket #BBL10

The Score: Perth Scorchers 6-173 (Livingstone 67, Brathwaite 2-12) lost to Sydney Sixers (Philippe 84, Vince 52) by seven wickets with eight balls remaining

The Points: Perth Scorchers 1; Sydney Sixers 3

The Hero: Josh Philippe may well rue this as the chance for a maiden BBL century gone begging. Dismissed for 84 from 52 balls, it came from his most unorthodox stroke of the night, as he attempted to sweep Jhye Richardson over fine leg. Richardson – who sidestepped into his delivery stride, something he's tried a few times this tournament – had struck Philippe the ball before, a slower ball that saw Philippe through the shot and the ball strike his grille. It may have caused the rash shot, because Philippe has some textbook-perfect shots in his arsenal, and they were on display early. There were a couple of hold-the-pose straight drives as he took three successive fours off Andrew Tye early on in his innings. But for the most part this was as risk-free as T20 cricket gets, chipping into the gaps over the field looking for fours rather than trying to hit monster sixes, and rocking back to make the most of Manuka Oval's short boundaries when bowlers' dropped their length. His fifty came from 31 balls, and precipitated an opening of the shoulders as he went on the attack with those short square boundaries. Having already made 95 this tournament, Philippe now has four other scores in the 80s in Big Bash cricket.

Philippe flays the Scorchers attack in Canberra

The Supporting Cast: The experienced Englishman James Vince entered this game off the back of a series of low scores, but he played an impressive anchoring role along with Philippe to wrest control of this match. He struck a second fifty in BBL|10, hitting five boundaries and a six, but fell the over after Philippe to just open the door for the Scorchers.

The Consolation Act: Liam Livingstone was dropped by Daniel Hughes at mid-off on just one, then may have got away with a faint leg-side tickle next over that the Sixers were adamant had been hit. The Englishman was living dangerously, and he wasn't going to hang around wondering. The next ball was smacked onto and over the roof of the Manuka Oval grandstand. That was just a warm-up for Livingstone. He took 27 runs off one over from Stephen O'Keefe – the most runs conceded in an over in BBL|10 so far. Two of the sixes in that over were straight hits that he launched with one hand off the bat handle. Livingstone launched another six to bring up his 50 off 18 balls, and hit six in total, before perishing in innocuous fashion for 67 off 38 balls.

Livingstone launches six sixes in rapid knock

The Power Surge: Before this game, the Perth Scorchers and the Sydney Sixers were the most effective teams at batting and bowling, respectively, during the BBL|10 Power Surge. It shaped as a captivating battle. The Scorchers had set the tone through Livingstone's fireworks with 53 in the Powerplay overs to open the innings, but the honours were decidedly in the Sixers favour as they fought back brilliantly with the ball. The two surge overs saw the Sixers take 2-9.

The collapse: At 1-103 after 10 overs, Livingstone, Jason Roy and Colin Munro had the Perth Scorchers flying. But the wheels soon fell off in the middle order with Mitch Marsh missing this match following his side strain. Ashton Turner, Josh Inglis and Cameron Bancroft all departed for a combined total of four runs and Perth had suddenly slipped to 6-142, losing 5-39 in 7.2 overs. All up, Perth managed 6-60 in the second half of their innings. The early run-fest did allow Perth to secure the Bash Boost bonus point.

The Next Stop: It's a five-day break for the Sydney Sixers until their next game, a rematch with the Sydney Thunder next Friday night, to be played in Adelaide. The Scorchers are back in action on Tuesday night when they face the Brisbane Heat at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne.

Sydney Sixers XI: Josh Philippe (wk), Justin Avendano, James Vince, Daniel Hughes (c), Jordan Silk, Dan Christian, Carlos Brathwaite, Stephen O'Keefe, Jackson Bird, Jake Ball, Lloyd Pope

Perth Scorchers XI: Jason Roy, Liam Livingstone, Colin Munro, Josh Inglis (wk), Cameron Bancroft, Ashton Turner (c), Aaron Hardie, Jhye Richardson, Andrew Tye, Jason Behrendorff, Fawad Ahmed,