Josh Philippe has made a blistering start to BBL11, peppering the SCG’s famous Members’ Pavilion against the Melbourne Stars.
After being named the Player of the Tournament in last year’s BBL, Philippe started right where he left off, slamming 83 off 47 deliveries as the Sydney Sixers put up a formidable total of 4-213 after being inserted in to bat first.
Philippe and opening partner James Vince (44 off 29) put on 90 off just 58 deliveries for the opening wicket, before Sixers skipper Moises Henriques pounded an unbeaten 76 off just 38 deliveries.
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The highlight of Philippe’s knock was his brutal assault off Sam Rainbird’s bowling in the 14th over of the Sixers’ innings, where he hit the left-armer for two huge sixes.
Rainbird attempted to catch Philippe by surprise with a couple of slower balls, but the well-set opener saw them coming from a mile away, pounding the ball onto the roof of the Members’ Pavilion at the SCG.
“Off-pace delivery, that was heading towards the mighty clock too!” Australian great Mark Waugh said on Fox Sports’ coverage. “That’s a decent old hit isn’t it?”
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“He’s definitely a future Australian Test player in my opinion,” added Brett Lee.
Philippe and Vince also brought up their 1000th run together as a partnership in BBL games, becoming just the fourth pair to do so behind Matthew Wade and D’Arcy Short, Alex Carey and Jake Weatherald, and Usman Khawaja and Alex Hales.
Philippe’s power hitting did not go unnoticed on social media, with former England captain Michael Vaughan impressed.
https://twitter.com/MichaelVaughan/status/1467428906525499395https://twitter.com/andymcg_cricket/status/1467426252269056002https://twitter.com/nic_savage1/status/1467423572838600706