Sydney Sixers have ended Brisbane Heat's hopes of sneaking into the Big Bash League finals after a comfortable six-wicket victory with 14 balls to spare at the Gabba on Sunday night.
The Sixers got off to a flying start in their pursuit of the Heat's competitive total of 6-147, racing to 1-64 at the end of their power play with Michael Lumb and Riki Wessels looking particularly dangerous.
Lumb and Wessels combined for a second-wicket stand of 53 runs from 33 balls before Heat skipper James Hopes removed Wessels for 28, with Dan Christian dismissing Lumb for 25 soon after to stall the Sixers' momentum at 3-74 in the ninth over.
Hopes offered his side further encouragement when he bowled Sixers' skipper Moses Henriques for 18, leaving the game evenly poised with the visitors 4-91 after 11.2 overs.
However, from that point, debutant Jordan Silk (29 not out from 23 balls) and keeper-batsman Ryan Carters (30 not out from 21 balls) steadied the Sixers' ship, taking the wind out of the Heat's sails with a composed partnership of 57 runs from 38 balls to steer the Sixers to victory in front of a crowd of 28,724.
The six-wicket win was the Sixers fourth of tournament, seeing them move up to third place on the BBL ladder behind the Adelaide Strikers and Perth Scorchers.
Meanwhile, the Heat remain rooted to the foot of the ladder with only pride left to play for in their remaining two fixtures against Melbourne Renegades (away) and Hobart Hurricanes (home).
After an unconvincing start which saw the Heat struggling at 3-10 after three overs, the hosts recovered to post 6-147, thanks largely to the efforts of Peter Forrest and Andrew Flintoff.
Flintoff joined Forrest in the middle with the Heat reeling at 4-33 in the seventh over and blasted an entertaining 46 from 32 balls.
The pair combined for a Heat-record fifth-wicket partnership of 93 runs with Forrest carrying the bat to remain unbeaten on 62 runs off 56 balls.
Although the damage was done early on for the Heat with Brett Lee and Moses Henriques taking two wickets each for the visitors and man-of-the-match Doug Bollinger taking 1-18 off his four overs including 12 dot balls.
"I think we did particularly well with the ball tonight, we really wanted to make some inroads upfront," Brett Lee told Channel 10.
"In all due respect I think they got a few more runs than we first expected, but they ended up with 140-odd which was a pretty good total."
The Sixers now turn their attention to their next match against the second-placed Adelaide Strikers with Lee declaring the best is yet to come for his side.
"We haven't played our complete game yet - we've been a little bit short with the ball, a bit short in the field and a bit short with our batting so hopefully that comes together in the next few games."
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