After the Perth Scorchers defeated the Sydney Sixers by six runs at the SCG, the star of the show Craig Simmons was relieved the weather hadn’t taken the shine off his Man of the Match 112 from 58 balls.
Perth’s 193 for five and the rain saw the Sixers chasing a much more attainable revised 54 in 5 overs. It left the Scorchers feeling the tension.
“I thought 54 was a bit generous.” Simmons admitted. “I thought 190-odd on the board the Sixers were going to struggle to get that.”
“The boys did well with the ball, because to defend 54 in five overs is an awesome effort.
“Some good partnerships with mysef and Kat, and then myself and Vogesy really set us up”, he continued. “Obviously, when I haven’t had double-figures other than my last 100, it puts the pressure on.
“I just thought I’d take a bit more time tonight and it paid off in the end.”
Pat Cummins bowled the penultimate fourth over, which resulted in two wickets for six runs, plus a run-out.
“I knew I was going to bowl the fourth over and we had a few runs to play with, so, to be honest, it wasn’t too bad,” Cummins said. “I wasn’t too nervous and Katich was right there giving me advice on where to bowl and luckily it came off tonight.
“In terms of the last month or so, it’s a big over.
“I’ve played two games and felt really good, but probably haven’t had the results I would have liked and a couple of balls let me down.
“I couldn’t be happier with those six balls - a lot of things clicked and I couldn’t be happier.” he continued. “I felt we had enough runs and they were going to have to pull out a miracle to win.
“In myself, I felt the ball came out exactly how I’ve wanted it to come out over the last few months and everything just clicked.
Sydney needed 17 off the final over for victory, with Nathan Coulter-Nile bowling out the game to have the Sixers finish on 6-48.
But prior to that, the match came within two minuted of being abandoned to the rain before Sydney faced their first ball. Had the game been lost to the weather Sydney would have progressed after finishing ahead of Perth in the group stages of the competition.
“The boys were really down and shattered, because that was a seriously good score on a wicket they put us in to bat on and nobody really knew how it was going to play,” captain Simon Katich said. “It had a tinge of green to it, it was overcast, we thought it might do a little bit and to get 190 on the board was outstanding.
“Also, the way it was done; we had a solid start and then the way the boys batted from overs 10 through to the end was phenomenal.
The platform was there and after being 100 after 14 overs, that laid the platform for a good score and we saw the value of someone batting through the innings.
“I thought Simmo’s knock, I thought it was better than his one in Perth, because of the conditions and the attack he was up against.
Katich now takes his side home to Perth for the BIG FINAL against Hobart Hurricanes.
“I expect them to be very, very good,” he predicted. “To have knocked off the Stars at the peak of their powers and so convincingly means that you have to be playing well and playing with a lot of confidence.
“They did it with ball first and then with the bat and we know full-well they’re a quality outfit.
“They probably should have won the game against us at the WACA and it took some serious bowling from Yasir (Arafat) and Coults (Nathan Coulter-Nile) at the end to win us that game.
“They’ll be tough to beat, but we also know we play well at home.”
James Buttler
As the editor of World Cricket Badger he is intent on building the website to give quality coverage of the domestic game around the world.
He is also the presenter of the Cricket Badger Radio Show on Radio Yorkshire every Tuesday evening between 7-9pm UK time.
James was the full-time Media Manager at Yorkshire County Cricket Club between 2007 and 2010.
James is a published author, a writer/video contributor to many cricket publications and a complete cricket badger!
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