THE Sydney Sixers have made a blistering start to their Big Bash League title defence, cruising to a seven-wicket win over local rivals the Sydney Thunder at the SCG last night.

Set 144 to win, the Sixers overcame the early loss of David Warner to a second-ball duck to reach the total with eight balls to spare.
Skipper Brad Haddin starred on the run chase, continuing his strong form this summer with a swashbuckling 59 off 49 balls.
The only negative for Haddin came when he was dismissed just as the Sixers were about to get to the winning target, but it shouldn’t take away from a brilliant innings.
The former Test wicketkeeper got to his half-century off just 43 deliveries and hit three fours and three sixes in his sublime knock.
He was well supported by all-rounder Steve Smith (41 n.o.) and youngster Nic Maddinson (39) as the Sixers made it 12 wins in a row in all competitions in front of 15,279 fans in Sydney.
Paceman Chris Tremain was the pick of the Thunder bowlers, finishing with 2-27 off his four overs, while Dirk Nannes had an economical 0-17 from his four.
Earlier, the Sixers won the toss and decided to bowl in near perfect conditions and immediately went about putting the shackles on the Thunder top order.
Led by quicks Luke Feldman (2-19) and Mitchell Starc (2-27), the Sixers restricted the flow of runs in the early overs and then took wickets at regular intervals.
Hurting from his omission from the Test squad this week, Thunder opener Usman Khawaja (19) looked good early as he smashed Starc for consecutive boundaries before his unfortunate dismissal.
The in-form left-hander was given out lbw to Starc in the fourth over, with replays suggesting the ball would have missed leg stump.
And despite fellow opener Martin Guptill (20) and skipper Chris Rogers (23) making starts, the visitors couldn’t get anything going.
Rogers’ dismissal with the score at 61 in the ninth over sparked a collapse, with the Thunder losing 4-27 in the space of seven overs.
It was only some late over-hitting from Ryan Carters (33 off 24) and Sean Abbott (24 off 14) which ensured the Thunder would post a competitive total of 5-143.
The pair put on a stand of 55 off just 30 balls to give their bowlers something to defend.
But with Maddinson and Haddin in such strong touch at the top of the order, it was never realistically going to be enough. (CA)