Stars win sixathon after White 84

Melbourne Stars 1 for 167 (White 84*, Maxwell 58*) beat Melbourne Renegades 5 for 163 (Finch 84*, Cooper 60) by nine wickets
Scorecard

Nineteen sixes were showered at the Docklands Stadium in Melbourne, as the spectators were treated to a scrumptious display of big hitting from both the Melbourne Stars and the Melbourne Renegades.

In the end though, the Stars overhauled 164 quite easily, thanks to the captain Cameron White's 49-ball 84 - his 24th Twenty20 fifty - that completely took the match away from the Renegades.

The Stars, who now move to the top of the table by virtue of their nine-wicket win, were comfortable throughout the chase, and were rarely threatened by a Renegades bowling attack that failed to produce a consistent, if not threatening, line and length.

James Pattinson conceded just two runs off the first over of the innings, but White smoked Matthew Gale for three fours in the second to get the team underway. While White was aggressive, his opening partner Luke Wright was more content picking up singles to keep the runs flowing and rotate the strike. Wright was eventually dismissed for 17 after the pair had made 69 from eight overs, but there was to be no reprieve for the Renegades.

Glenn Maxwell combined with White for an unbroken second-wicket association that yielded 98 runs from 50 balls, and ultimately took the Stars over the line with 22 deliveries remaining.

The Renegades bowlers were all expensive, particularly Aaron O'Brien who leaked 26 runs in the 13th over. Maxwell finished unbeaten on 58 with two fours and six sixes, and sealed the victory with an outside edge that raced past the keeper for four.

That the Stars had to even chase that much in the first place was due to Aaron Finch and Tom Cooper's fourth-wicket stand of 102 which helped the Renegades recover from a slow start. The Renegades, choosing to bat, were reeling at 3 for 17 thanks to Jackson Bird's triple strike in the second over, before Finch and Cooper counterattacked by striking seven fours and eight sixes between them.

Cooper fell for a 44-ball 60, but Finch remained unbeaten on 84, with six giant sixes, including one off James Faulkner that he pulled straight up to the roof of the stadium. The team finished at 5 for 163, but in the end, it proved to be well short of a total intimidating enough to worry White and Maxwell.