Sixers leapfrog Thunder after completing Sydney derby double

The defending champions steal a march in pursuit of a place in the Qualifier with a comfortable win at the SC

Sydney: Sydney Sixers 197-5, Sydney Thunder 137-9 - Sydney Sixers won by 60 runs

Scorecard

Sydney Sixers took a giant stride towards securing a place in the Big Bash League Qualifier after completing the double over city rivals Sydney Thunder at the SCG.

Steve O'Keefe took 4 for 18 as Thunder failed in their pursuit of 198 to win.

Half-centuries for Josh Philippe (57) and Daniel Hughes (66) before a cameo from Moises Henriques (47*) helped the defending champions put on 197 for 5 from their 20 overs.

Daniel Sams and Nathan McAndrew collected two wickets each but they were both expensive, while Chris Green's off-breaks were swatted away for 36 from three overs.

Despite an encouraging start in the powerplay, early wickets meant Thunder were immediately on the back-foot in the chase.

^{No prizes for guessing the identity of the Sixers' matchwinner (Brett Hemmings/Getty Images)}

O'Keefe claimed the key wickets of Alex Hales (23) and Alex Ross (0) in the sixth over and he stayed on to grab two more in the 10th, as Sams (10) and Oliver Davies (1) perished.

The trend of wickets falling in clusters continued when Dan Christian's fine catch dismissed Jason Sangha (22) and Gurinder Sandhu (0) was run-out by Sean Abbott.

Green went to his maiden BBL fifty from 30 balls before being dismissed, but by then the result was beyond all reasonable doubt, and the Sixers' 60-run success was soon confirmed.

The victory lifts Sixers into second place in the table, level on points with Thunder but ahead on net run-rate with a game in hand.

While Sixers appear to be hitting form at just the right time after a bumpy period, Thunder have now lost two on the spin and still need a point from their final game against already-eliminated Melbourne Renegades to secure third place or stand any chance of reaching the Qualifier with Perth Scorchers.