Smith, Philippe orchestrate run-chase perfection

The Match in a Tweet: Ice-cold Smith guides Sixers to victory and second place despite brutal hundred from Aaron Finch

The Result: Melbourne Renegades 5-175 (Finch 109, Curran 3-27) lost to Sydney Sixers 3-176 (Smith 66no, Philippe 61) by seven wickets with eight balls to spare

The Hero: With Steve Smith at the crease the Sixers were always favourites to win. Fortunately for the Sixers he was there at the end.

Smith is one of the most, if not the most, fidgety batters in the world but out in the middle of the SCG he appeared completely calm. The 30-year-old was cruising along before shifting gears at the loss of Josh Philippe in the 12th over, taking the attack to the Renegades and delivering an impressive win.

All the characteristic dinks and dabs featured during his innings, but so did two immaculately hit switch hits and a powerful blow into the 23,587-strong crowd.

The key match-up arrived in the 16th over with Sixers needed 45 to win. Kane Richardson, who had gone for just nine from his first two overs, was called on to bowl to Smith and almost had his man caught on the cow corner rope but youngster Nathan McSweeney couldn't quite hold on (more on that effort below).

Smith then edged two balls to the third man rope, and in Richardson's next over he took Melbourne's best bowler for a huge six. Richardson went from 0-9 to 0-37 from four.

Smith walked off unbeaten on 66 from 40 balls, his top score in the BBL and his first half-century since BBL|03 With Smith in the side, the Sixers are a strong chance to win every game.

The Consolation Effort: There is no point trying to get fancy with this: Aaron Finch smashed the Sixers. The Renegades captain was simply brutal at the SCG, hammering fast bowling, spin bowling, swing and seam bowling. It did not matter the style or type, whatever it was it went the distance.

Finch's performance was an innings of two halves: his first 53 runs came from 45 balls consolidating after losing early wickets, his next 56 from just 23 when it was time to explode.

He rode his luck, sure, offering difficult chances off the bowling of veteran off-spinner Nathan Lyon to Jordan Silk in the deep and gloveman Josh Philippe in the 11th over, and another to paceman Ben Dwarshius in the 16th when he was 62.

Those missed chances proved costly as Finch took his foot off the brake with the end of the innings in sight and it was Dwarshius who copped the full brunt of the blitz. The 17th over, bowled by the Sixers left-armer to the visiting captain, went 4 6 4 2 2 4, and two balls later Finch put Australia quick Josh Hazlewood over long off for six more.

Finch hit Dwarshius for his seventh six at the start of the final over before holing out in the deep with just two balls remaining. His knock finished on 109 from 68 balls, with six fours and seven sixes, with three of those maximums coming off the bowling World Cup teammate Lyon.

The Supporting Cast: Like Finch, Josh Philippe had his fair share of luck and like the Australian limited-overs skipper he made the most of it. Philippe was put down on 25, 36 and 37 (all difficult chances) but it did not deter the youngster as he compiled 61 from 42 balls.

Chasing a target of 176, Philippe went about the pursuit undaunted, taking veteran Dan Christian for 15 from the fifth over then leg-spinner Cameron Boyce for another 15 in the 10th.

But just as he was looking comfortable batting with his idol Steve Smith, his wristy whip to the leg-side was well held by overseas import Mohammad Nabi.

It was Philippe's fourth half-century in BBL|09 and finishes the regular season as the Sixers' leading runs-scorer with 401 runs at 36.45.

The Good Fortune/Bad Luck: In the matter of a second, Renegades allrounder Will Sutherland went from ruing a dropped return catch to celebrating a run-out.

Sutherland fumbled a firmly-struck return catch off the bat of Philippe which ricocheted off the bowler's wrist and on to the non-striker's stumps. James Vince watched it all unfold, unfortunately while standing a metre out of his crease to be run out for 22.

The Fielding Effort: Check out this from Nathan McSweeney on the boundary. Incredible!

The Stat: Finch made a Fab Four into a Fab Five to join D'Arcy Short, Usman Khawaja, Luke Wright and Craig Simmons as the only players to hit two centuries in the BBL.

Finch now has eight T20 hundreds, the equal second-most in history alongside compatriots David Warner and Michael Klinger. West Indies master blaster Chris Gayle has the most T20 hundreds, a staggering 22 from 404 matches.

The Next Stops: The Sixers now play the waiting game. The win puts them in second place and a date with the Melbourne Stars in The Qualifier at the MCG on January 31. But, before that can be confirmed, if the Strikers beat the Hurricanes tomorrow the Adelaide side will finish second and push the Sixers to third. The Renegades head back to Melbourne to host the Heat on Monday night at Marvel Stadium, where the visitors could be playing for their season.

Sixers XI: Josh Philippe (wk), Daniel Hughes, James Vince, Steven Smith, Moises Henriques (c), Jordan Silk, Tom Curran, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood, Steve O'Keefe

Renegades XI: Aaron Finch (c), Tom Cooper, Nathan McSweeney, Beau Webster, Mohammad Nabi, Dan Christian, Samit Patel, Brayden Stepien (wk), Will Sutherland, Cameron Boyce, Kane Richardson