Sydney Sixers v Melbourne Stars: match preview

Match facts

Who: Sydney Sixers v Melbourne Stars

What: Match 11, KFC BBL|14

Where: SCG, Sydney

When: Thursday, December 26. Bat flip at 5:20pm AEDT, first ball at 6:05pm AEDT

How to watch: Channel Seven, 7plus, Fox Cricket, Kayo Sports 

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: Mike Graham-Smith and Gerard Abood (field), David Taylor (third), Claire Polosak (fourth), David Gilbert (match referee)

Match squads

Sydney Sixers: Moises Henriques (c), Jackson Bird, Joel Davies, Ben Dwarshuis, Jack Edwards, Akeal Hosein (West Indies), Hayden Kerr, Todd Murphy, Kurtis Patterson, Mitch Perry, Josh Philippe, Lachlan Shaw, Jordan Silk, James Vince (England)

 

Melbourne Stars: Marcus Stoinis (c), Hilton Cartwright, Ben Duckett (England), Brody Couch, Tom Curran (England), Sam Harper, Glenn Maxwell, Jonathan Merlo, Usama Mir (Pakistan), Joel Paris, Tom Rogers, Peter Siddle, Doug Warren

 

Ins: Usama Mir. Outs: Beau Webster, Adam Milne

Pakistan spinner Usama Mir joins the Stars for his first game of the season after being taken with pick 24 in the draft, replacing Kiwi speedster Adam Milne. Beau Webster also drops out of the side that lost to Adelaide Strikers last Friday due to Test squad duties.

Hamish McKenzie has been ruled out of the next two matches due to a rib injury and will be further assessed before the game against the Heat on January 1 at the Gabba.

Club news

Sydney Sixers

Melbourne Stars

Get the latest

Top performers

Most Runs

BBL|14 BKT Golden Bat

Player	Total
1 Cooper Connolly C Connolly	144
2 Tim Seifert T Seifert	120
3 Mitchell Owen M Owen	111
4 Jamie Overton J Overton	96
5 Sam Harper S Harper	95
6 Marcus Stoinis M Stoinis	90
7 Ashton Turner A Turner	84
8 Jimmy Peirson J Peirson	80

Full Table

Most Wickets

BBL|14 BKT Golden Arm

Player	Total
1 Tom Rogers T Rogers	7
2 Lloyd Pope L Pope	6
3 Will Sutherland W Sutherland	6
4 Lockie Ferguson L Ferguson	5
5 Jamie Overton J Overton	5
6 Henry Thornton H Thornton	5
7 Jason Behrendorff J Behrendorff	5
8 Ben Dwarshuis B Dwarshuis	4

Full Table

Most sixes scored

BBL|14

Player	Total
1 Cooper Connolly C Connolly	9
2 Jamie Overton J Overton	7
3 Mitchell Owen M Owen	5
4 James Bazley J Bazley	4
5 Alex Ross A Ross	4
6 Tim Seifert T Seifert	4
7 Marcus Stoinis M Stoinis	4
8 Cameron Bancroft C Bancroft	3

Full Table

Local knowledge

Rapid stats

• Sydney Sixers have won 10 of their last 11 BBL games against the Melbourne Stars, including a seven-wicket win in their most recent encounter. However, they lost by four wickets in their most recent clash at the SCG on Boxing Day 2023.
• Sydney Sixers have won six of their last seven BBL games including their last two in a row, while Melbourne Stars come into this game on the back of a five-game losing streak which began with a seven-wicket loss to the Sixers (January 6, 2024).
• Sydney Sixers (9 from 9) are the only team with a 100 per cent catch success rate this BBL campaign, having not dropped a catch across their last two games.
• Moises Henriques (Sydney Sixers) has scored 2973 runs across his BBL career and needs just 27 more to become the fourth player to reach 3000 runs in the competition after Chris Lynn, Aaron Finch and D’Arcy Short). He's scored 193 runs at an average of 64.3 across his last six innings against the Stars.
• Glenn Maxwell (Melbourne Stars) has scored 126 runs against Ben Dwarshuis in the BBL at a strike rate of 217.2, which is the second most runs that any batter has hit against a single bowler in competition history (127 runs – Mitch Marsh against Ben Laughlin).
• Ben Dwarshuis and Sean Abbott have been the key bowlers for the Sixers in this match-up historically. Both players have taken 19 wickets against the Stars. 
• Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis have had success with the bat against the Sixers, with both players recording a century in this match-up previously. It was Stoinis who scored the memorable 147no against the Sixers back in BBL|09. 

KFC BBL|14 standings

Team	Matches played M	Wins W	Losses L	Ties T	No results N/R	Net Run Rate NRR	Deductions Ded.	Total points PTS
1 Melbourne Renegades Men REN	3	2	1	0	0	1.496	0	4
2 Brisbane Heat Men HEA	2	2	0	0	0	0.456	0	4
3 Sydney Sixers Men SIX	2	2	0	0	0	0.427	0	4
4 Perth Scorchers Men SCO	3	1	2	0	0	0.191	0	2
5 Adelaide Strikers Men STR	3	1	2	0	0	0.169	0	2
6 Sydney Thunder Men THU	2	1	1	0	0	0.073	0	2
7 Hobart Hurricanes Men HUR	2	1	1	0	0	-2.187	0	2
8 Melbourne Stars Men STA	3	0	3	0	0	-1.005	0	0

Legend

M: Matches played

W: Wins

L: Losses

T: Ties

N/R: No results

NRR: Net Run Rate

Ded.: Deductions

PTS: Total points

BKT Big Bash Tipping is back! Simply select who you think will win each match and you’ll be in with the chance to win $1k every week, plus KFC vouchers and signed merch. Join now