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The Sydney Sixers have claimed a seven-wicket win over the Adelaide Strikers at Metricon Stadium to move to the top of the BBL ladder.
The Sydney Sixers are back on top of the BBL ladder after a seven-wicket win over the Adelaide Strikers on Sunday.
Chasing 151 after the Strikers made 4-150 at Metricon Stadium, the BBL champions' reached their target with 12 balls to spare to bounce back immediately from Saturday's loss to the Brisbane Heat at the Gabba.
Englishman James Vince top-scored with an unbeaten 45 off 33 deliveries with Jordan Silk (38 off 28) joining him in a match-winning 71-run fourth-wicket partnership.
The Sixers made a blistering start to their chase with Jack Edwards (14 off 10) and Josh Philippe (41 off 24) smashing 47 in the four-over powerplay.
The end of the fielding restrictions brought Afghan spinner Rashid Khan into the attack he removed both Sydney openers to have them 2-58.
Khan would strike once more to dismiss Sixers' captain Daniel Hughes (12) and ended the night as the pick of the Strikers' bowlers with 3-18 from his four overs.
None of Adelaide's other bowlers were able to match Khan and their fielding was also sloppy, including a couple of costly errors which led to Sixers' boundaries.
"The score was only 150 and in T20 cricket you should chase that down whatever wicket you're playing on," Hughes said.
"So I was confident that we'd get the job done with the bat and it ended up being a very professional outing with the bat."
The Sixers' confident run chase came after a half-century by Jonathan Wells lifted an altered Strikers' batting lineup.
Wells scored 66 off 56 deliveries before being caught of the final ball of the Strikers' innings, which needed a late flurry after a horrid start.
Following their New Year's Eve loss to the Perth Scorchers, the Strikers tweaked their batting order with ex-Test player Matt Renshaw moving to opener and Jake Weatherald dropping down to No.5.
That plan didn't pay off however with Renshaw and opening partner Phil Salt (1) falling inside the first two overs to leave the Strikers 2-7.
Only a late burst which yielded 43 runs off the last three overs between Wells and Weatherald (34 not out) lifted the Strikers to 150.
Strikers captain Alex Carey said the batting order shuffle was about trying to find the right balance for the latter stages of the tournament.
"We're really close to hopefully getting some connectivity through that batting order," Carey said.
"We're still sitting fourth on the ladder at the halfway point and we haven't fired a shot really with the bat, so I think we can look at that as a positive.
"We're still in games with a bowling unit that's doing a great job and it's halfway through the tournament so it's time to start firing now with the bat."
Englishman Jake Ball, making his BBL debut after coming out of hotel quarantine on Christmas Day, was impressive in conceding just seven runs off his first two overs.
His figures were however ruined when he leaked 35 runs off his final two overs and finished with 1-42.
Adelaide will look to get back to winning ways on Tuesday when they host the last-placed Melbourne Renegades while the Sixers head west to play the Scorchers in Perth on Wednesday.