Coming into Match 13 of the BBL 11 season, Melbourne Stars had 2 wins in 3 games but they were high on confidence given that they won two on the trot before this game began. They would’ve been further at an advantage since they were playing at their home ground, MCG, but they were playing against Sydney Sixers, who they hadn’t beaten in any of their last 6 games in the Big Bash League (BBL).
The BBL 2021/22 season had been a good one for Sixers until here as well, winning 2 of their 3 games too. Here, they won the toss on the evening of 15th Dec 2021 and put the Stars in to bat. They were good with the new ball and reduced stars to 6/2, dismissing the dangerous Marcus Stoinis for 3 runs and his opening partner Joe Clarke for a duck. That’s when captain Glenn Maxwell walked to the crease.
They were batting around the 6-7 runs per over mark well past the 10th over and you wouldn’t have imagined a score of more than 150 in this game but Maxwell stayed there almost until the end and smashed his way to a maiden BBL century while also taking Stars to a competitive total of 177/5 in their 20 overs. Maxi was only dismissed in the 19th over after pummelling his way to 103(57)!
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Prior to this game, both the centuries in the BBL 11 season came from Perth Scorchers batsmen, in Colin Munro and Mitchell Marsh. This was Maxi aka ‘The Big Show’ opening the account for Stars in terms of individual centuries, and all three of these batsmen brought up their maiden BBL centuries. This particular knock from Maxwell saw 12 boundaries and 3 sixes.
Maxi is usually someone who comes in and likes to go from ball one but a good outing at IPL 2021 where he was promoted up the order would’ve given him the confidence to do the same out here as well in BBL 11. He got a little support from Nick Larkin and Hilton Cartwright but he was the only one who looked comfortable in the innings, scoring at a strike rate of 180+!
With nearly 100 BBL games to his name at the time, he’s been consistent over the years and even is one of the top BBL run scorers of all-time. However, it was a first entry for him in the list of BBL centuries over the years. Given the position the team was when he walked in, he did brilliantly to get them to the score they got to eventually and he’d probably rank it as one of his best BBL innings ever.
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Among the Sixers bowlers, five of them got a wicket each but no one really stood out. While the first two centurions in BBL 11 ended on the winning side, Maxi’s century went in vain as Sydney Sixers consolidated their position at the top, getting 3 wins in 4 games after this one. They registered a 6-wicket victory with 2 balls to spare, marching on towards their goal of getting a third successive BBL title.
Taking away the charm of Maxi’s century, Josh Philippe scored 99(61) and was unfortunately dismissed a run short of a ton. It would’ve been a different record as no previous BBL game has seen two centuries over the years. With the ball, newbie Brody Couch ended with the best figures of 1/22. For more updates on Glenn Maxwell and on the Big Bash League, make sure you stay tuned to ReadScoops.com…
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