Heat loss leaves Sixers at risk of being frozen out of finals

By Phil LuttonUpdated November 13, 2021 â€" 10.36pmfirst published at 3.06pm

Sydney may be without a side in the WBBL finals after the Sixers failed to fire in a woeful batting performance against the in-form Brisbane Heat in Mackay.

Batting first, the Sixers managed only 7-91 from their 20 overs as Jess Jonassen (3-15) and Courtney Sippel (2-12) restricted them to a total that was never going to be enough.

The Heat had plenty of hiccups as they chased down the meagre target before eventually falling over the line in the 14th over with seven wickets down.

It leaves both the Sixers and the Sydney Thunder near the bottom of the ladder before their derby in Mackay on Sunday, with Thunder off spinner Lauren Smith saying they can go on a late run to finish a difficult season on a high note.

It has been a testing campaign for the defending champions, who are anchored to the bottom of the ladder with two wins from 10 outings. They remain a mathematical chance of making the finals but would need to win their final four matches.

Lauren Smith is hoping to get among the wickets against the Sixers.Credit:Getty

It sounds daunting but Smith, the former Sixer, doesn’t believe it is out of reach. She said the squad hadn’t had time to dwell on any negatives and the nature of tournament cricket meant that if they found some late momentum, they could be difficult to stop.

“Because they are such quick turnarounds, we’ve been able to get the games out of our minds fairly quickly. We’ve taken some good things out of those tough games and, hopefully, we can get four wins to round out the tournament,” Smith said ahead of the clash with her old side.

“It definitely is achievable. You haven’t seen [import Smiliti] Mandana at her best, so hopefully we can fire with the bat and ball in these last rounds.

“We were just up against some really good opponents. It’s a bit of a bummer to get a few losses in the middle but, if everyone does their job, there’s no reason why we can’t finish on a very good note.”

Smith bowls right-arm off-spin and can contribute with some lusty hitting down the order but has played through significant discomfort this season. She needed stitches in her left hand after splitting the webbing against the Perth Scorchers late last month.

She has had to favour her bottom hand when she bats, although the result hasn’t always been displeasing.

“I just try to whack the ball at the end, stitches or no stitches in my hand. You have to use the top hand a lot in technical batting but in T20 you want to clear the boundary, so there has been plenty of bottom hand. It’s something I have to stick with now,” Smith said.

“It’s still healing but if I tape it up it should be fine.”

Smith knows the Sixers inside out and expects a little bit of friendly chat when they meet in the middle.

“We know each other really well. We have played a lot of cricket against each other. They are our cross-town rivals. We’ve put on a really good show before, so hopefully we can get a win under our belt. They are my old club so I’m sure there will be a bit of banter thrown around.

“I think we match up well. We will both want to come out firing from the start. Hopefully, some of our marquee players can stand up.”

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