Clinical Sixers finish first, end Stars' Bash campaign

The match in a tweet: Last-over finish overshadowed as Sixers win all-important Bash Boost point to seal top spot and knock Stars out of finals

The scores: Melbourne Stars 6-177 (Maxwell 66, Cartwright 38*; Dwarshuis 3-27) lost to Sydney Sixers 5-180 (Vince 46, Henriques 38, Silk 35no, Christian 49no) by five wickets with one ball remaining

The points: Sixers 4, Stars 0

The Bash Boost: In the first BBL campaign being played under the new rules, the major focus of the final regular-season game was the Bash Boost point that the Sixers claimed in a canter.

It made for an anti-climactic ending that overshadowed an otherwise entertaining game.

The Sixers, who needed just a solitary point to claim top spot, were left to chase 73 to win the Bash Boost point and understandably made that their first priority.

The Stars needed all four points to sneak into fifth spot and book a finals spot, meaning their season was over when the Sixers reached the required 73 with 12 balls to spare.

It meant the match had effectively been decided in the Stars’ first eight batting overs, during which they lost three wickets and managed just 51 runs.

It also ultimately made Dan Christian and Jordan Silk’s terrific 77-run sixth-wicket unbeaten partnership, which sealed victory with a ball to spare, superfluous.

Likewise for Glenn Maxwell and Hilton Cartwright’s exhilarating knocks given they mainly happened in the second half of the Stars’ batting innings.

The next stops: The Sixers, who have finished in the top two for the second season in a row, will now 'host' the Perth Scorchers in the 1v2 Qualifier final in Canberra on Saturday.

The Stars will rue their poor finish to the season that has left them in seventh spot, meaning their title drought has now lasted a decade.

The heroes: Given the importance of the first 10 overs of the game, the efforts of the Sixers bowlers to strike regularly and bowl a series of economical overs during that period proved decisive.

Pacemen Ben Dwarshuis and Sean Abbott grabbed the three vital early wickets and conceded a combined 12 runs from their first four overs, while Stephen O’Keefe bowled three of the first 10 overs and went for just 15.

The consolation effort: Stars skipper Maxwell was a man on a mission. At 3-46 and then 4-90, the Stars had stumbled through the most of their innings but Maxwell played a typically enterprising hand of 66 from 41 balls to breathe life into the Stars’ bid for a finals berth.

The 32-year-old almost singlehandedly took 29 off the Power Surge as he switch-hit an exasperated Carlos Brathwaite past short third man twice in a stunning demonstration of his seemingly limitless ability with the bat.

The Sixers quicks had targeted Maxwell with the short ball early in his innings but he emphatically put a stop to that tactic when he hooked a huge 81-metre six off Dwarshuis.

Stars fans will be questioning however why he did not come into bat earlier than the sixth over, given the importance of their 10-over score.

The catch: The pure determination and sheer joy on Maxwell’s face after this superb running grab highlighted how much this match meant to the club, with the wicket briefly raising Stars’ hopes that they could put the Sixers in enough early trouble to win the Bash Boost point.

The over: Cartwright had a crucial 56-run stand with Maxwell to rescue the Stars but the powerful Western Australian saved his best for last after his captain had departed. He pummelled three of the last four balls of the innings for enormous sixes off Jake Ball, taking 22 off the over to send the Stars fans (and his own teammates) into raptures and end their batting innings on a high.

Stars XI: Marcus Stoinis, Seb Gotch (wk), Nick Larkin, Glenn Maxwell (c), Nic Maddinson, Hilton Cartwright, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Sam Rainbird, Adam Zampa, Billy Stanlake, Zahir Khan. X-Factor subs: Liam Hatcher, James Seymour

Sixers XI: Josh Philippe (wk), James Vince, Daniel Hughes, Moises Henriques (c), Jordan Silk, Dan Christian, Carlos Brathwaite, Sean Abbott, Ben Dwarshuis, Stephen O'Keefe, Jackson Bird. X-Factor subs: Jake Ball, Hayden Kerr