Sydney Sixers undone without international players but vow BBL finals fightback

The biggest games of the Big Bash have to be played without some of the players who make the biggest impact.

Sydney Sixers captain Moises Henriques says his side has won the BBL title without its international stars before and can do it again, refusing to use their absence as an excuse for Tuesday night’s opening finals loss in Hobart.

Without Steve Smith, who made 173 runs in his only two batting appearances this season, key bowler Sean Abbott and spinner Todd Murphy, all in Dubai with the Australian Test squad preparing for matches in Sri Lanka, the Sixers couldn’t reel in the Hurricane’s modest total of 7-173 in Hobart.

English gun James Vince remains the Sydney outfit’s leading run-scorer this Big Bash season, having made 228 runs in a six-match stint that ended before the finals.

Henriques is next best himself, with 207 runs, but the captain was adamant Tuesday’s defeat was a “good loss” because it enabled players who hadn’t seen much time at the crease to get some runs.

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Jordan Silk made 57 from 44 balls, Kurtis Patterson 48 from 33 balls opening the batting in the absence of Vince, and rookie Lachlan Shaw was unbeaten on 33.

Their efforts weren’t enough to get the Sixers over the line, but Henriques said all efforts left him comfortable they were well placed for Friday’s last-chance clash with the winner of Wednesday’s match between the Sydney Thunder and Melbourne Stars.

“We’ve got some good balls into a lot of batters who probably haven’t hit a lot,” Henriques said.

“It happens every year to us. We rarely ever have our overseas (players) for finals.

“When we’ve won (competitions), we’ve won without the overseas (players).

“We’re used to this sort of transition. The guys that are coming in … they’re very good cricketers.

Playing without their best players is nothing new to Sixers captain Moises Henriques. Picture: Jeremy Ng/Getty Images

“Kurtis proved that with a good knock that kept us in the game. Lachie (Shaw) showed promising signs in one of the toughest positions to bat in T20 cricket.”

Several teams in the finals have been impacted by the loss of internationals, including the Stars who lost No.1 draft pick, Ben Duckett, and Test all-rounder Beau Webster for their campaign

The Sixers recovered from 3-5 in the run chase to fall just 12 runs short, which was good enough for Henriques.

To take it as deep as we did … there are good and bad ways to lose,“ he said.

“You never want to lose but in terms of losing that’s as well as we can lose.”