Sydney Sixers 198 for 2 (Vince 101*) beat Melbourne Stars 194 for 9 (Duckett 68, Bird 3-35)

But for stages on Boxing Day, the Stars appeared the team on top in front of a crowd of 23,212.

Duckett was all power for the visitors, bringing his blend of Bazball to the Big Bash with 68 from 29 balls. England's destroyer became only the second player in BBL history to hit six fours in an over, unleashing a flurry of pull shots and reverse sweeps off spinner Akeal Hosein.

He also took to fellow spinner Todd Murphy, launching a big slog-sweep for six to bring up his half-century off 22 balls.

Jackson Bird copped similar treatment with two straight fours and a six on the next ball, before having the left-handed opener caught at deep third man.

And while the Stars took only 16 from their two power surge overs and fell away late, Sixers did the opposite with the bat.

After Josh Philippe and Vince put on 83 for the first wicket inside eight overs, the hosts went even quicker in the second half of their innings. Jordan Silk and Vince took 35 off their two power surge overs from Peter Siddle and Maxwell, with Vince in particular going after the latter.

He hit four sixes in total, with two coming off Maxwell, one deep over midwicket off Tom Curran and another when he hit fingerspinner Doug Warren inside out over cover.

The opener reached the rope another 12 times in his knock, registering more boundaries than he did dot balls to keep the Sixers' chase well and truly on track.

The 57-ball century made Vince only the second player to bring up three figures in Sixers colours, after narrowly missing out a hundred in the 2021 final.