Big Bash League: Sydney Sixers defeat Sydney Thunder in tournament opener

Sydney Sixers had a brilliant start to their 2016 Big Bash League campaign as they beat defending champions Sydney Thunder by 9 wickets in the first match of the tournament in Sydney on Tuesday.

Sydney Sixers had a brilliant start to their 2016 Big Bash League campaign as they beat defending champions Sydney Thunder by 9 wickets in the first match of the tournament in Sydney on Tuesday.

Moises Henriques of the Sydney Sixers bats during the Big Bash League match against Sydney Thunder. (Getty Images)

Skipper Moses Henriques led from the front as he showed great captaincy skills to restrict Sydney Thunder to an achievable score of 159 and then scored an explosive 76 off 41 balls to guide his team to victory.

Batting first, Sydney Thunder made a good start to their innings, but they were unable to capitalize on the situation as they ended up losing 5 wickets for just 15 runs midway into their innings.

Andre Russell of the Thunder bats during the Big Bash League match between the Sydney Thunder and the Sydney Sixers.

Ben Dwarshuis, Joe Mennie and Doug Bollinger picked up two wickets apiece as Sydney Thunder’s innings ended on 159/8.

West Indian all-rounder Andre Rusell could not do wonders with the bat for Sydney Thunder, but his Spartan bat with a black blade and pink handle was one of the talking points of the day. Russell used the bat during the Stanford T20 tournaments in the Caribbean and Sixers keeper Brad Haddin went on to question the legality of the bat.

However, Cricket Australia confirmed that the bat was within the rules and in an official statement, they said, “A player can use a coloured bat subject to CA approval. The bat may be the same colour as the club’s primary colour or black.”