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Sydney Sixers triumph despite Warner heroics

The Sydney Thunder’s Big Bash misery continued into a third season despite a David Warner cameo on Saturday night.

Warner, released from the Test squad for the opening BBL round, smashed 50 from 31 balls as he easily transferred the form which has dominated England into cricket’s shortest format.

But it was a wasted effort as the Thunder’s winless streak was extended into a new year.

The Sixers continued their cross-city dominance by chasing down the target of 167 with six wickets and 10 balls to spare in front of 18,180 fans.

The Thunder have collected back-to-back wooden spoons and have not won a match since December 23, 2011, while the Sixers remain unbeaten against their western Sydney rivals.

Warner, who struck a match-winning century in his only previous appearance for the Thunder, did his best to change that.

The leading Ashes scorer this summer, with 457 runs at 91.4, took little time settling into the Twenty20 format – spanking three boundaries from the first five balls he faced.

He and Usman Khawaja (66 off 51) put on 116 for the opening Thunder wicket but were given next to no support as high profile teammates Mike Hussey (2) and Eoin Morgan (4) failed to deliver.

The final nine Thunder overs delivered just 50 runs as they posted 166, still a record for the franchise.

But it never looked enough as Nic Maddinson put on a Warner-esque show of his own, pounding 61 off 40 balls.

Maddinson displayed all of the strokeplay that earned him an international T20 debut against India in October, hitting six boundaries and four sixes.

One of those sixes was a sublime flick off the hip that sailed into the second tier of the Members Pavilion – and came one delivery after being struck on the chin by a Gurinder Sandhu bouncer.

His cavalier knock ended when caught by the man of the moment, Warner, for 61.

But efforts from skipper Steve Smith (22), Ravi Bopara (27 off 17) and Moises Henriques (28 off 18) steered them home.

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