BBL 2020-21 final: Sydney Sixers v Perth Scorchers – live!

17th over: Sydney Sixers 155-4 (Silk 6, Christian 9) Tye has the honours for the Scorchers and he opens with a length delivery outside off that Christian bludgeons to extra cover for two. He cashes in on a freebie next ball, drilling a full toss straight back down the ground for four. Bancroft then drops another! But again, it’s an incredible effort just to get his fingers to the ball, diving away to his right at point like peak Jonty Rhodes. That sparks a good run for Perth with two singles and two dots rounding off an excellent comeback from Tye.

16th over: Sydney Sixers 147-4 (Silk 5, Christian 2) Excellent from Ahmed, capturing the crucial wicket of Vince then keeping Christian honest with a dot and a single. Silk gets away with three, but yet again it’s from a genuine nick that sails through a massive gap in the field. Big over from the Scorchers, but they still have the power surge to negotiate.

Gah! No ton for James Vince again! Back-to-back 90s it is for the Englishman, mistiming the first ball of the returning Ahmed to cover where Marsh does hold on this time.

15th over: Sydney Sixers 140-3 (Vince 95, Silk 2) Did Mitch Marsh just drop the BBL? Vince top edges a slog to leg and the ball soars miles in the air, so so high, swirling and hanging. But instead of the boundary rider coming in for the catch, Marsh attempted it over his shoulder, and by the time the ball hit his hands and bobbled to the turf, it looked near impossible. Vince licks his lips and smacks Hardie for four next ball, then guides a couple behind point off a delivery that was so wide it had to be checked by the third umpire for pitching on the cut strip. A couple more follow before there’s another drop! This one was also incredibly tough, Bancroft running in and diving full length from third-man to try to get his fingers under a mistimed cut.

This is James Vince’s night.

14th over: Sydney Sixers 127-3 (Vince 82, Silk 2) Livingstone gets a second over, but Vince makes him regret it by cutting beautifully for four through point, whipping into the legside for a couple, then drilling a straight drive for four more. Superb, intelligent batting from Vince, launching into the Scorchers’ sixth bowler instead of activating the power surge.

Time for more of Tye’s variations as thoughts turn to when the Sixers might take their power surge overs. Sydney go two, one, dot, as Tye’s changes of pace take effect, then he has a huge appeal for LBW declined off a delivery that swung in a long way. His disappointment is not helped by Henriques finding another boundary to fine third-man with a wild edged slash. He exacts his revenge a ball later when Henriques smashes a length delivery on the up straight to mid-off where Hardie holds on to the catch.

13th over: Sydney Sixers 114-3 (Vince 71, Silk 0)

12th over: Sydney Sixers 106-2 (Vince 71, Henriques 11) Liam Livingstone gets an emergency call-up into the attack, and he begins superbly, beating Vince twice with his leggies, then making it three dots in a row. Can the batsman respond? Yes – slog sweeping four then rotating the strike with a single. Henriques then runs absurdly hard to turn an easy two into a blistering three.

11th over: Sydney Sixers 98-2 (Vince 66, Henriques 8) No changes from either side at the ten-over mark. Hardie resumes proceedings with the ball, and a couple of wide yorkers land just near enough to Vince to be recorded as dot balls. Vince responds by stepping across and swinging a massive six to leg, wonderful hitting. He follows that up by staying legside of the ball, opening the face, and slicing a four through third-man. Hardie digs in goes for only a single from his final two deliveries. Vince holds the key to the next 29 overs. He could bat the Scorchers out of contention at this rate.

10th over: Sydney Sixers 87-2 (Vince 55, Henriques 8) Back to Fawad Ahmed, and he continues his run of conceding only singles, until a strong appeal for LBW against Vince is turned down, the first of consecutive dot balls. The singles soon return before a hard-run two completes the over.

There’s no obvious turn or bounce for Fawad but clearly taking the pace off the ball is the way forward against the Sixers at the moment.

Time for a quick break. Will either side look to their X-factors?

9th over: Sydney Sixers 82-2 (Vince 53, Henriques 5) Nothing edgy about that from Vince. He welcomes Behrendorff back to the attack by crunching a six over extra-cover with all the timing and swagger of peak Viv. He follows that up with a couple, to bring up his 50, and single to rotate the strike. The Englishman has the bit between his teeth tonight. Maybe AJ Tye will be made to regret that bouncer after all…

8th over: Sydney Sixers 71-2 (Vince 43, Henriques 4) Henriques is off the mark with a four, edged through the vacant cordon. The Sixers have benefited from a healthy smattering of nicks and edges already tonight. Fortune favours the brave, and all that.

The Scorchers need a wicket, so they return to strike man Richardson… and he delivers! A hat-trick of singles induces Hughes to try something expansive, but after picking up the ball nicely on a length all he can do is send it straight down Munro’s throat on the midwicket fence.

7th over: Sydney Sixers 63-1 (Vince 41, Hughes 12) Aaron Hardie gets his first bowl, his right bowling arm heavily taped. The theme continues with a couple of singles before Vince pulls out that graceful swish of the bat from off to leg to send the ball thudding into the midwicket fence. Then it’s Hughes’ turn to find the rope – and clear it in fact – but with far less elegance. His attempted hook shot skews off the top edge and flies all the way towards the sightscreen behind the keeper.

6th over: Sydney Sixers 50-1 (Vince 35, Hughes 5) First look at spin for the night with the introduction of Fawad Ahmed. There’s not a lot to report in the air, off the pitch, or off the bat. Six consecutive singles.

5th over: Sydney Sixers 44-1 (Vince 32, Hughes 2) Hughes gets off the mark, then Vince advances down the crease to Behrendorff and muscles him for four through the legside with force, not his familiar timing. The timing isn’t gone for long though, he connects with that elegant pull shot to conclude the over and sends the ball soaring over square leg for six. He makes batting look so simple when he’s on song.

4th over: Sydney Sixers 31-1 (Vince 21, Hughes 0) Tye follows up the run out with some nice change-ups, including his wobbly knuckle ball. Vince then almost picks out the square leg boundary rider with a crisp pull that went a long way in the air.

Andrew Tye comes into the attack to resume his duel with James Vince, and the early honours go to the batsman. A nudge into the legside for two precedes a top-edged pull that flies over the keeper for four. But then there is ABSOLUTE CARNAGE!

Vince defends at his feet and Philippe comes flying down the pitch, but his partner is not moving a muscle. Two magenta clad batters are at the striker’s end so Tye has an age to throw down the stumps – and misses! Fortunately there are enough teammates backing up to complete the dismissal, helped by Philippe giving up the ghost. Calamity for the Sixers who were building nicely.

3rd over: Sydney Sixers 22-0 (Philippe 9, Vince 13) Philippe hasn’t timed anything yet but gets himself off strike early in Behrendorff’s over. Vince then almost chips a catch to Tye at mid-on but the ball looped agonisingly short of the fielder. Behrendorff continues to mix up his speeds and lengths to keep the Sixers off balance – until Philippe drops to one knee and absolutely murders a six as far as the eye can see. That sounded very sweet off the bat. What was I saying about Philippe’s timing?

2nd over: Sydney Sixers 12-0 (Philippe 2, Vince 10) Richardson forces Vince on the defensive first ball, and after that tight opening over from Behrendorff the Englishman has to respond. He does so by stepping to leg and drilling a glorious cover drive for four, then timing a pull for four more with the most efficient looking stroke you could imagine. That was an effortless swivel from the waist. Richardson responds with a couple of singles and a dot.

The pitch looks full of runs, by the way, if a touch on the slow side.

1st over: Sydney Sixers 2-0 (Philippe 1, Vince 1) Behrendorff is on the money first ball, hitting a red ball line and length with his left-arm pace over the wicket to the right-handed Philippe. The young opener pinches a single with a mistimed hoick, but that doesn’t benefit his partner Vince who dead-bats three deck-hitting deliveries before mistiming a drive for a single. Good start for the Scorchers.

The two teams are out in the middle. Tense music is blaring through the tannoy. Smoke from the fireworks drifts around the SCG. It’s go time.

Storms have drifted through NSW all day, mostly to the north of Sydney’s CBD. There remains a slim chance the match could be affected, but if the worst happens a reserve day has been scheduled tomorrow. For a result to occur tonight we must have at least a five-over per side thrash.

The BBL has provided a nice winter break for a number of English batters, not least England outcasts James Vince and Alex Hales.

Here’s some preview reading, including what I think the kids call “bantz” by Barrow boy Liam Livingstone.

Perth are also unchanged, which means Jason Roy has failed the fitness test on his ankle. All eyes on that fearsome Scorchers bowling unit on this untested surface.