The Perth Scorchers edged out the Sydney Sixers by 10 runs on Tuesday night to extend their lead to six points at the top of the Big Bash ladder.
The Scorchers are priced at 7/4 to win BBL11 and continue to go from strength to strength with eight wins from their opening nine fixtures.
Slow start
The Scorchers looked to be in big trouble at one point though as they slumped to 5-69 as Sixers star Dan Christian put on a bowling masterclass posting figures of 2-14 while Hayden Kerr took 4-32.
But they bounced back with Aaron Hardie smashing 45 off 24 balls while Ashton Agar made 29 off 20 as they reached a respectable score of 8-143.
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The Sixers would have fancied their chance of getting there but soon slumped to 4-16, before Christian then put on a 45-run partnership with Jordan Silk to lead the recovery.
They still came up short though with Englishman Tymal Mills taking 3-29 off his four overs for the Scorchers.
Proud skipper
The win was even more remarkable considering the Scorchers stepped in at the last minute to replace the Brisbane Heat after a number of players fell sick.
"As we know in this competition, the game is never over and we’ve played enough against guys like Dan Christian and so many others floating around to know our job isn’t done until we walk off the ground," Scorchers captain Ashton Turner told Channel 7.
"But tonight was an amazing performance, to get a call at lunchtime today to ask if we were willing to play today, I couldn’t be more proud of the guys for the way they stepped up and got their head around the initial shock.
"We were able to turn up today, get our minds on the job and get the job done."
