Sydney Sixers 198 for 2 (Vince 101*) beat Melbourne Stars 194 for 9 (Duckett 68, Bird 3-35)
But in the Boxing Day stages, the Stars looked like the team on top in front of a crowd of 23,212.
Duckett was all power for the visitors, taking his Bazball mix into the Big Bash with 68 off 29 balls. The England destroyer became the second player in BBL history to score six fours in an over, unleashing a flurry of shots and reverse sweeps from spinner Akeal Hosein.
He also took on teammate Todd Murphy, blasting a huge sweep of six to add to his half-century off 22 balls.
Jackson Bird received similar treatment with two fours in a row and a six off the next ball, before the left-handed opener was caught deep at third man.
And while the Stars took just 16 of their two power surges and fell late, the Sixers did the opposite with the bat.
After Josh Philippe and Vince scored 83 for the first wicket in eight overs, the hosts were even quicker in the second half of their innings. Jordan Silk and Vince took 35 of their two power boosts from Peter Siddle and Maxwell, with Vince in particular going after the latter.
He hit four sixes in total, two of them coming from Maxwell, one deep over midwicket off Tom Curran and another when he hit bowler Doug Warren inside-out over cover.
The opener hit the rope another 12 times in his knock, registering more boundaries than points to keep the Sixers’ chase on track.
The 57-ball century made Vince only the second player to reach three figures in Sixers colours, after narrowly missing out on a hundred in the 2021 final.
