The Sydney Thunder kept their finals hopes alive on Saturday night, as they smashed their cross-town rival the Sydney Sixers.
Moises Henriques won the toss and decided his team would bat first, but it was slow going for the Sixers, as they never really got out of first gear all innings long.
Opener Daniel Hughes top scored with just 20, as Thunder spinner Fawad Ahmed ripped through the Sixers' line-up, claiming brilliant figures of 4-14 from his four overs.
After the Sixers managed just 9/99 from their 20 overs, the Thunder were full of confidence when they stepped to the crease, and they began the chase strongly, as their openers piled on a 54-run partnership before James Vince was dismissed for 28.
Shane Watson came and went three balls later, but those two were the only wickets to fall for the Thunder, as Kurtis Patterson and Ben Rohrer guided the Thunder home to a eight wicket win with 10 overs remaining.
The win is the Thunder's fourth in a row, and they now move into fifth place and just one win outside the top four.
Zero Wicket's votes
3. Fawad Ahmed (Thunder)
He took the key wickets of Nic Maddinson and captain Moises Henriques, and with figures of 4-14, it was certainly a Man-of-the-Match performance.
2. Kurtis Patterson (Thunder)
The Thunder needed to start strong to zap the energy from the Sixers after their poor turn with the bat, and Patterson opened the batting and saw himself through to the end of the innings, top scoring with 38 from 26.
1. Ben Rohrer (Thunder)
After two wickets in one over, Rohrer needed to come in and steady the ship before the Sixers got a sniff, and he did just that, blasting 26 from 13 alongside Patterson to lead the Thunder to victory.
Following the match in Sydney, the Melbourne Stars chased down the Scorchers' score with relative ease in the second match of the night.
Perth won the toss and elected to bat first, and the move instantly backfired as they lost their first four wickets inside four overs.
Andrew Tye got the Scorchers back on track with 42 from 33, and a strong 51-partnership from the unbeaten pair of Ashton Agar (29 from 20) and Tim Bresnan (20 from 15) saw Perth reach 7/134 with the bat.
Rob Quiney continued his hot form with the bat as he opened the innings blasting 35 from just 23, getting the Stars into a strong position, and one they wouldn't let slip.
Kevin Pietersen smashed 44 and Marcus Stoinis 40, as the pair led the Stars to the seven-wicket win.
Melbourne's fourth victory of the season sees them jump into top spot, and the Stars still have two matches to play, meaning a home final looms likely for Melbourne.
Zero Wicket's votes
3. Michael Beer (Stars)
Beer dismissed both Ian Bell and Cameron Bancroft for ducks, and the spinner got the better of Perth throughout the night with incredible figures of 2-12 from his four overs.
2. Marcus Stoinis (Stars)
The hero with the bat alongside Kevin Pietersen, Stoinis blasted his unbeaten 40 runs from just 23 balls to help the Stars cruise to victory.
- Kevin Pietersen (Stars)
Another strong performance with the bat from the Englishman, as Pietersen's unbeaten 44 saw him top score across another BBL match.
