Sydney Sixers’ much talked about pace attack carried them to the verge of the Champions League T20 cricket tournament semi-finals, as they crushed Yorkshire by eight wickets in Cape Town.
The English county were restricted to 9-96 and Sydney reached their modest target with a massive 11.1 overs to spare.
Sydney have won both of their first two group games and should make the last four unless they lose both of their remaining matches against South Africa’s Highveld Lions in Cape Town on Thursday night (AEDT) and India’s Mumbai Indians in Durban next Tuesday morning (AEDT).
The victory over Yorkshire was set up by the pace trio of the miserly Josh Hazlewood (1-9 off 4), Mitchell Starc (3-22 off 4) and Pat Cummins (2-13 off 4).
Starc, who had a successful stint with Yorkshire in the recent English summer, bagged his second three-wicket haul of the 10-team tournament.
Yorkshire lost 9-66 after getting to 0-30 in the sixth over.
They hit five fours in the first three overs, but managed just four more boundaries and a single six.
Conversely Sydney passed that boundary count in just four overs and finished with 17 fours and a six.
Sixers captain Brad Haddin (41 off 21) and former Yorkshire opener and England T20 representative Michael Lumb (43 not out off 24) flayed the Yorkshire attack for 78 in seven overs.
Time and again Yorkshire’s batters stepped away outside off stump and failed to hit the ball.
They struggled to lift their pedestrian run rate against high-class bowling and fielding on a wicket with tennis ball bounce.
Yorkshire’s former NSW and Australian Test opener Phil Jaques (21 off 19) played some enterprising shots before top edging a mistimed pull off Starc to Dominic Thornely at deep square leg.
Joe Root (25 off 24) and Adam Lyth (18 off 25) each got a start but couldn’t up the tempo.
Sixers opener Shane Watson (11 off 6) set the tone of the chase by belting 11 off the first over from spinner Root (0-11 off 1).
Root got his revenge off the first ball of the second over bowled by former England paceman Ryan Sidebottom (1-28 off 2), taking a good overhead catch at deep square leg.
Man-of-the-match Haddin was caught in a similar position by Lyth off Azeem Rafiq (1-21 off 1.5) just eight runs short of the target.
