Henriques acknowledges Sixers' need to rectify BBL finals defeats

Moises Henriques, the captain of Sydney Sixers, has urged the club to carefully analyze the reasons behind their recent struggles in finals. Following their defeat to local rivals Sydney Thunder in the Challenger match on Friday, Henriques emphasized the importance of reflecting on their performance. However, he adamantly refused to attribute their loss to the absence of crucial players involved in Australia's Test cricket commitments. Henriques acknowledged that it was essential for the team to critically assess their performance in crucial matches over the past seasons. He believes that understanding the root causes of their stumbling in the finals will pave the way for improvements in future campaigns. While highlighting the need for a thorough evaluation, Henriques made it clear that he did not intend to lay blame solely on the absence of key players representing Australia in Test matches. Despite missing influential individuals due to national team duties, Henriques acknowledged that it was the responsibility of the entire team to step up and perform at their best during crucial encounters. Henriques emphasized the importance of a collective effort, stressing that the team as a whole must take responsibility for their performances, regardless of the absence of key players. He maintained that focusing on individual absences would divert attention from addressing the core issues that have hindered the team's success in recent finals. By refusing to use the absence of key players as an excuse, Henriques displayed a strong commitment to accountability and urged the club to adopt a similar mindset. He expressed his belief that identifying weaknesses and working towards rectifying them would be more beneficial in the long run.

Sixers had given themselves a double chance of reaching Monday's final by finishing second in the regular season but lost to Hobart Hurricanes in the Qualifier before coming up short against Thunder at the SCG.

It meant that since winning the second of back-to-back titles in the 2020-21 season, they have won just two out of nine matches in finals series.

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"Unfortunately we've saved our worst two performances for the last two games of the year," he said. "We do have to have a look at how we've performed in finals the last three years because I don't think our record is great now. We gave ourselves two chances this year because of how well we played throughout the year. We had two chances last year as well and two chances the year before.

"I am proud that we've got a group that consistently puts us in a position to win the tournament and gives us the very best opportunity at the end of the league games to go on and win but unfortunately this year we weren't good enough."

Henriques said the debrief on the season would start straightaway. After the final there is a ten-day trade window where out-of-contract players from other clubs can be signed. Sixers head into that period with ten on their list - the maximum permitted - leaving Jackson Bird, Daniel Hughes, Hayden Kerr, Ben Manenti and Kurtis Patterson as those who are free agents.

"It's the high pressure nature of sport that you can't always perform when you want to," Henriques said. "Why we've been not able to play our best in these games is something we're going to have to have a look at and definitely discuss for a while after the game because we're not rushing off to anywhere. There's a lot to learn from the last couple of days.

"Some of the best learnings are in these situations because a lot of that group is going to be around again next year and hopefully we can put ourselves in a position next year to challenge again."

Steven Smith was available for three matches this season where he made a spectacular 121 not out followed by 52 but, along with Todd Murphy and Sean Abbott, left after the regular season for Australia's training camp in Dubai ahead of the Sri Lanka tour.

When Sixers won the first of the back-to-back titles in the 2019-2020 season, they had Smith, Nathan Lyon (who is now with Melbourne Renegades) and Josh Hazlewood (currently recovering from injury) available for the finals along with their regular key names.

"It's a really tough one," Henriques said when asked about the overlapping schedules. "I think the pinnacle of cricket is playing international sport for your country and we're very proud of the three guys that get selected. That's obviously not including Starcy and Josh Hazlewood.

"That's a feather in our cap as a squad that they want to play cricket for our team and I wouldn't have it any other way. I still feel like we've got players that can win us the match when they go away.

"I said before the last game to the group, even though we only had 12 players, somehow it was still a headache to try and pick 11 because of what I believe to be the quality of this group and the quality of players that we have."

In the 2020-21 final, James Vince produced the match-winning hand of 95 against Perth Scorchers and has remained a regular with the club but left early for the ILT20, as did West Indies left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein. The other draft signing was young English legspinner Jafer Chohan who stood out when he came into the side, returning 2 for 28 and 2 for 22 the two finals, conceding just one boundary in each game.

"He's been really impressive," Henriques said. "He sat patiently waiting for a game. I think through the four matches that he played, I couldn't remember one bad ball, which, for a wristspinner, is just extraordinary. I think he's got a big future ahead of him."