BBL Finals Match Thread

[Pal Joey]

1st Semi Final, MCG, Tues Feb 4, 19:45 EST, 20:45 GMT

Melbourne Stars:
JM Bird, SM Boland, JP Faulkner, PSP Handscomb†, JW Hastings, BJ Hodge, DJ Hussey, AR Keath, CJ McKay,
GJ Maxwell, Mohammad Hafeez, JM Muirhead, CA Rose, MP Stoinis, MS Wade, CL White*, DJ Worrall, LJ Wright

Hobart Hurricanes:
GJ Bailey*, TR Birt, AC Blizzard, DE Bollinger, CJ Boyce, XJ Doherty, BR Dunk, EP Gulbis, BW Hilfenhaus, B Laughlin,
AD Mascarenhas, JM Mennie, TD Paine†, OA Shah, Shoaib Malik, KR Smith, T van der Gugten, JW Wells


2nd Semi Final, SCG, Wed Feb 5, 19:45 EST, 20:45 GMT

Sydney Sixers:
MJ Cosgrove, MJ Lumb, NJ Maddinson, MC Henriques*, SA Abbott, MJ North, DLR Smith†,
SNJ O'Keefe, B Lee, NM Lyon, JR Hazlewood, JK Lalor, B Dwarshuis

Perth Scorchers:
CJ Simmons, MR Marsh, SM Whiteman†, AC Voges, SM Katich*, AJ Turner, PJ Cummins,
JP Behrendorff, AC Thomas, GB Hogg, MA Beer, TJ Armstrong, RM Duffield, JS Paris

[Pal Joey]

Starts in about 15 minutes.

The Stars have been the standout team in this 3rd Big Bash League season - unbeaten in all of their 8 matches.
They come into this match with a NRR of +2.189 and in very good form indeed.

The Hurricanes have a considerably experienced line-up though and a canny bowling attack. They have been known to perform well when the stakes are high but were beaten by 5 wickets by the Stars only a few weeks ago.

[Pal Joey]

Malinga is back for the Stars tonight. It will be good to see James Muirhead bowl again too.

Ben Dunk, for the Hurricanes, was named BB Player of the Year last night.

[Biltong]

How did Johan Botha do this BBL?

[Pal Joey]

He was injured half way through. He seemed to start OK... but the Strikers lost a couple of games when he was absent. It was an uphill struggle for them by the time he got back.

[Pal Joey]

The Stars have won the toss and are batting.

Stars:
CL White*, LJ Wright, GJ Maxwell, BJ Hodge, DJ Hussey, MS Wade†, MP Stoinis, JW Hastings, SL Malinga, JM Muirhead, DJ Worrall

Hurricanes:
TD Paine†, BR Dunk, JW Wells, GJ Bailey*, Shoaib Malik, TR Birt, AD Mascarenhas, B Laughlin, BW Hilfenhaus, CJ Boyce, DE Bollinger

[Pal Joey]

White top edges Malik and he's gone for 6.

17/1 after 3 overs.

[Pal Joey]

Tight bowling from Malik and Mascarenhas.

21/1 after 5

Finally, a boundary to Wade.

He then lobs one to Malik at mid-off.

25/2

[Pal Joey]

The selection of Boyce over Doherty has paid off. The leggie has dismissed Wright lbw for 13.

The Stars are 37/3 after 7.

[Pal Joey]

Maxwell slogs one off Boyce straight down long-off's throat. Travis Birt takes the catch.

46/4 after 9 overs.

[Pal Joey]

56/4 after 10.

[Biltong]

Sounds ominous for the Stars.

[Pal Joey]

Yes, they have been well contained and have never really got going after losing wickets on a regular basis.

132/6 after 19 overs.

We'll see how the Hobartians handle Malinga, Muirhead, Hastings, etc. It could be a low scoring game and 140-150 runs is a decent score.

[Pal Joey]

So the Melbourne Stars have posted 141/8 after their 20 overs.

The Hurricanes will require 7.1 runs an over.

[Pal Joey]

The Hurricanes are 57/1 after 7 overs. The Stars were 37/3 at the same stage.

[Pal Joey]

An easy win for Hobart in the end by 7 wickets. A huge shock loss for the Stars.

[Pal Joey]

The Perth Scorchers won a rain-affected semi final over the Sydney Sixers by 5 runs at the SCG on Wednesday night.

Craig Simmons again starred for Perth scoring 112 (58) in a total of 193/5.

After the rain delay, the Sixers were set a target of 54 runs off 5 overs. They lost many wickets cheaply and ended up on 48/6.
It was a close finish in the end but certainly the Scorchers deserved to go through to the Final against the Hurricanes.

[Pal Joey]

Perth won the toss and have elected to bat in the Final against Hobart at the WACA.

[Pal Joey]

A very decent total of 191/4 for the Scorchers.
Sean Marsh finished 63*, Simmons made 45 and Mitchell Marsh 37.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Scorchers got this in the bag

[Pal Joey]

Yep, Birt just out for 2.
Hurricanes need 99 runs needed off 45 balls.

[alfie]

Don't think even George Bailey could do it from here...

Though I see they are only seven behind on comparative run rates .

[Pal Joey]

If he can just get it down to around 26 runs needed for the final over...   

[alfie]

Bailey gone and the bookies can pay out now...

[Pal Joey]

Good to see Perth do well.
The players have been in fine form and that crowd deserves to celebrate the win.

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