| Sydney Thunder 123 (19.5 overs): Knight 38 (38); Gardner 4-26 |
| Sydney Sixes 126-1 (17.3 overs): Perry 82* (60); Darlington 1-35 |
| Sixers won by nine wickets |
| Scorecard; Table |
Sydney Sixers captain Ellyse Perry hit an unbeaten 82 to deny Heather Knight’s Sydney Thunder a home tie in the Women’s Big Bash League play-offs.
Perry led the Sixers to a target of 124 and a nine-wicket win at the SCG which left Thunder in fourth in the table.
The winners of Thunder’s game against Brisbane Heat in Perth in Tuesday’s Eliminator will play Perth Scorchers in the Challenger on Wednesday.
The table-topping Adelaide Strikers await in the final on 2 December.
There will be radio commentary of all the remaining games on 5 Sports Extra, BBC Sounds and the website and app from 08:00 GMT.
“It’s frustrating. There was that real carrot of staying in Sydney and having a home semi-final,” said Thunder and England captain Knight.
“But I’ve just said to the girls now, if you’d said at the start of the year that we were going to make finals we’d have taken it.”
Knight made a run-a-ball 38 and Phoebe Litchfield 34 off 25 before Thunder collapsed from 84-2 to 123 all out thanks to Ashleigh Gardner’s 4-26.
Australia all-rounder Perry hit 10 fours and three sixes in her 59-ball innings – her highest score in this year’s WBBL – as the Sixers cruised home with 15 balls to spare.
The Strikers, who had already secured top spot in the table, thrashed Hobart Hurricanes by 77 runs to extend their winning run to five games in the earlier match at the SCG.
Laura Wolvaardt struck a 65-ball 73 in the Strikers’ 164-3, before Tahlia McGrath took 3-8 and Jemma Barsby 2-9 to help bowl the Hurricanes out for 87.
