Sixers steal it at the death after Pooran-Maxwell show

The match in a tweet: A BIG BASH CLASSIC! Hughes heroics leaves Maxi-Pooran Show in the shade as Sixers trump Stars again #BBL10

The score: Melbourne Stars 5-193 (Maxwell 71no, Pooran 65; O'Keefe 2-13) lost to Sydney Sixers 9-194 (Hughes 96; Hatcher 3-33) by one wicket with one ball remaining

The hero: Sixers captain Daniel Hughes produced the T20 innings of his career to snatch a remarkable victory from a Stars side who were all but home.

Coming to the crease at 2-5 in the second over, Hughes looked up at the scoreboard and what was facing him must've seemed exceptionally daunting: 188 required from 112 deliveries. Hughes comes across a relaxed individual and tonight that translated to some serious composure as he anchored a run chase that always appeared just beyond the reach of the Sixers.

But Hughes had other ideas. The left-hander travelled along at a good clip but upped the ante impressively towards the climax; with 38 required from 15, he went 4, 6, 6 and suddenly the Sixers were very much in the game, with the equation 22 from 12.

Even after a double-wicket, two-run penultimate over, Hughes didn't give in; from the first three balls of the final over he went 6, 4, 6 before being caught on the midwicket fence, leaving it to Steve O'Keefe to try to steal it for the Sixers.

The winning shot: O'Keefe did it! The veteran spinner swung lustily, it hit his pad and the ball ran away through the vacant fine leg for four. From the final over, the Sixers had scored 20 runs and won the most incredible match.

The drama: Most at the ground and watching at home assumed that Stars' strike bowler Nathan Coulter-Nile would bowl the final over the innings, until it was shown that he was actually off the ground (it was later revealed he had a minor calf strain) when the final over needed to be bowled. It meant Glenn Maxwell had to bowl himself, and Hughes seized on the confusion as Coulter-Nile watched on from the dugout.

The sideshow: Your team is 4-49 in the ninth, and they're up against the defending champs, whose attack is swarming like wasps disturbed. Who do you want coming together with the bat? If you answered 'Glenn Maxwell and Nicholas Pooran' – or even if you didn't – chances are you enjoyed watching perhaps the most scintillating partnership of BBL|10.

Maxwell settled into his innings and then set about doing Maxwell things – advancing down the wicket to the mediums of Dan Christian, changing his shot seemingly mid-stroke and still clearing the boundary.

But the Aussie superstar was made to look almost sedate by Pooran who, in his maiden BBL innings, was simply spectacular. After scratching to four runs from five balls, Pooran was struck in the helmet by a short ball from Gurinder Sandhu. It must have roused him from his slumber; from the next eight balls he faced, Pooran went 6, 6, 6, 4, 6, 6, 2, 6 for a tally of 42 runs.

Both batsmen reached their half-centuries with a maximum – par for the course, really – and though Pooran exited before the innings closed, leaving a trail of memorable strokes behind him, captain Maxwell was unbeaten at the end, plundering the final ball over the ropes.

The Surge: See above. Maxwell and Pooran. Wow. Just the 49 runs then; the highest since the implementation of the new rule for BBL|10.

The head scratcher: O'Keefe has taken the equal-most wickets in BBL|10 and the left-arm tweaker was in the middle of weaving another web at Metricon when Maxwell and Pooran came together. In fact, from two overs he had 2-13. And that was the last we saw of him at the bowling crease. From the next 11 overs, the Stars hammered 137 runs.

The incident: Gee whiz, poor umpire Phil Gillespie did well to recover quickly from this one

The stat: Maxwell in his five T20 inns at Metricon Stadium: 276 runs, 167 SR, 92 ave, 18 sixes.

The next stops: The Sixers are back at Metricon in three days' time (Dec 29) for a showdown with the Renegades, while the Stars play later that same evening in Canberra against the Thunder.