A healthy Thursday night crowd at the MCG came in hoping to see a battle of the Curran brothers following Sam’s arrival from the ILT20 in Dubai, just four days after hitting 74* in the tournament final on Sunday.
Those anticipating the brotherly reunion would have been disappointed to learn that older brother Tom withdrew from the match with a minor hip issue, replaced by local fast bowler Liam Hatcher.
Sam Harper and Tom Rogers got the Stars off to a respectable start with a four-over powerplay score of 34, albeit 21 of them coming from the first over of Sixers import Sam Curran.
Curran was the only of the Sixers bowlers who lacked any discipline and it wasn’t until he came back for his second - in the 11th over of the innings - that the Stars were able to record a double-digit over.
For the most part, they were asphyxiated by spin bowling and slower seam bowling. Finger spinners Ben Manenti and Joel Davies bowled five of the first eight overs of the innings, going for just 24 runs between them and capturing the wickets of Stars openers Harper (21) and Rogers (23).
Getting a start and not being able to go on with it was the story of the night for the Stars, who saw some impressive hitting from captain Marcus Stoinis and 27-year-old Canberra-born Victorian Blake Macdonald.
The pair were both innovative and powerful, striking seven boundaries collectively, but neither could get past 33. For Macdonald, it was his second score in the 30s from three starts this season, and Stoinis’ third of 30+ runs from five innings.
A flurry of wickets throughout the second half of the innings saw no pair able to exceed the 44 runs put on by Stoinis and Macdonald, and after those two added 14 to the 12th over to have the Stars sitting pretty at 3/89, the Stars couldn’t manage more than nine runs off a single over for the remainder of the innings as Ben Dwarshuis and Jack Edwards steamrolled the lower order and the tail.
Stoinis was still in the middle at the time he opted to take the Power Surge after 16 overs but he had already lost partners Maxwell and Hilton Cartwright, leaving the tailenders to accompany him for the brief remainder of his stay.
The Stars may have gone into the sheds thinking of Perth’s near-successful attempt to defend 127 on Wednesday, and Brisbane Heat coming close to defeating the Sixers with 114 in Coff’s Harbour on Monday, but the Sixers rarely gave their opponents a sniff on this occasion.
As he was against the Renegades at Marvel Stadium on New Year’s Day, Sixers’ opener Babar Azam was afforded time to slowly and patiently build an innings - -and whilst he went along that path, he was unable to get an impactful start on this occasion when dismissed for 14 off 17 balls LBW to the medium pace of Marcus Stoinis.
That was after Babar’s captain Moises Henriques promoted himself from number four to opener and was dismissed LBW himself by Peter Siddle, whose first over went for just one run. Henriques may have been particularly frustrated with Babar’s advice not to review the decision when television replays showed the wicket would have been overturned if challenged.
Boundaries off Haris Rauf, Liam Hatcher and Mitch Swepson from Sixers wicketkeeper Josh Philippe kept them ticking along at eight runs per over despite losing three wickets inside the first ten overs, the third of which was Philippe misreading a Haris Rauf slower ball and miscuing a lofted cover drive to long-on.
On a slow and tacky pitch that made hitting boundaries against good length deliveries very difficult, the Stars were able to tighten up their bowling and record four consecutive overs without conceding a boundary, leaving the Sixers needing 26 off the final five overs with experienced finisher Jordan Silk guiding 23-year-old boundary hitter Lachlan Shaw along in Shaw’s sixth T20 career innings.
Silk struck the first ball of the Sixers’ Power Surge for six when helping Marcus Stoinis over his front shoulder to the fine leg boundary and must have been delighted to see Shaw replicate the stroke to go square of the fine leg sweeper for four.
The Stars have followed up their 4-0 start with three consecutive losses and join the Sixers in a mid-table position with a 4-3 record each.