Smith & Warner hit tons as Sixers win Sydney derby

Steve Smith hit a brilliant 100 from 42 balls as Sydney Sixers survived a late collapse to beat city rivals Sydney Thunder by five wickets in the Big Bash.

The former Australia skipper smashed nine sixes as he shared a blistering 141-run opening stand with Babar Azam (47 from 39 balls) in reply to Thunder's 189-6.

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The Sixers were cruising at 141-0 after 12 overs and, despite losing 5-28 to slip to 169-5, they got over the line with 2.4 overs to spare.

It meant that David Warner's superb unbeaten 110 from 65 balls came in vain as the Thunder fell to their eighth defeat in 10 matches.

Without Warner, the game at the Sydney Cricket Ground could have been over far quicker with Nic Maddinson's 26 the next highest score.

England all-rounder Sam Curran was the pick of the Sixers bowlers with 3-28 from his four overs.

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A chase of 190 could have been tricky but Smith and Babar quickly went about taking the game away from the Thunder.

After Babar was dismissed at the start of the 13th over, Smith proceeded to bring up his fifth T20 century from 41 balls.

However, he was stumped from the next ball he faced as the Sixers lost five wickets in 3.3 overs.

But any hopes of a dramatic Thunder victory soon faded as Lachlan Shaw and Jack Edwards putting on an unbroken 22 from 10 balls with the latter sealing the win with a towering six.

A fourth win in five games puts the Sixers fourth on 11 points, two behind leaders Hobart Hurricanes, while the Thunder stay bottom on four points.

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