BBL 2020-21: Match 38, THU vs SIX – Yet another win for the Sixers over Thunder, Christian’s milestone catch and more stats

Sydney Sixers firmed their position on the top of the points table following a convincing win against Sydney Thunder at the Manuka Oval. Alex Hales’ 33-ball 54 at the top while Daniel Sams’ unbeaten 50 off 37 balls played a key role in helping Thunder to finish with 166/6. A spell of rain during the innings break revised Sixers’ target of 129 from 14 overs. Josh Philippe (64 off 36) powered the Sixers to an impressive start as they got to the 50-run mark in only 3.4 overs. Despite the fall of wickets at regular intervals, the Sixers got over the line with 8 balls to spare.

Here are all the statistical highlights from Sydney Sixers’ 5-wicket win during the THU vs SIX game:

Yet another win for the Sixers over Thunder:

12 – Sydney Sixers have defeated Sydney Thunder on as many as 12 occasions in the BBL including once in the Super Over. These are the 2nd most number of wins for any team against an opponent in the Big Bash League behind Melbourne Stars’ 13 victories against Melbourne Renegades.

O’Keefe’s career-best effort:

3/15 – The figures of 3/15 by Steve O’Keefe are his best bowling figures in the Twenty20 format. His previous best T20 career figures were 3/16 against Melbourne Renegades during the opening weekend of the ongoing BBL edition.

All-round double by Sams:

3 – Daniel Sams became only the 3rd player in the history of BBL to score a fifty, pick 2+ wickets and claim 1+ catches in the same game. The other two players are Tom Cooper (53*, 2/12 and 1 catch) for Melbourne Renegades against Hobart Hurricanes in the 2016-17 season and Marcus Stoinis (78*, 2/26 and 2 catches) for Melbourne Stars against Melbourne Renegades in the 2018-19 season.

2 – Daniel Sams is now only the 2nd player in the BBL to score a fifty and take two wickets in the same BBL match twice. The Thunder all-rounder achieved this double earlier this season against Brisbane Heat. Marcus Stoinis was the first such player who achieved this double as many as four times.

Philippe and Hales move up the charts:

9 – Joshua Philippe has nine fifties in the Big Bash League; all while playing for the Sydney Sixers. Only Daniel Hughes (10) has more BBL fifties for the Sixers than Philippe while Moises Henriques also has nine such scores.

8 – Alex Hales now has 8 fifties in the BBL for Sydney Thunder which are the joint 2nd most 50+ scores by any player for Sydney Thunder. Usman Khawaja leads the list with 11 such scores including two hundreds while Callum Ferguson also has eight 50+ scores for Thunder.

Overall, Hales has nine fifties in the BBL which makes him only the 3rd overseas player with nine or more 50+ scores in the league history after Kevin Pietersen (10) and Brendon McCullum (9).

Christian @ 50 catches:

50 – Daniel Christian became the 2nd player after Glenn Maxwell (55) to claim 50 catches in the Big Bash League as a fielder. Christian took two catches (Usman Khawaja and Sam Billings) during the THU vs SIX game.