Perth Scorchers captain Adam Voges has warned there’s much better to come from his team after their less experienced players excelled in Monday’s shock Big Bash League T20 win over the previously unbeaten Sydney Sixers.
The defending BBL champions pulled off a stunning 36-run win at the SCG despite missing several strike players including internationals Shaun and Mitch Marsh, Brad Hogg and Nathan Coulter-Nile.
Voges said some of his less experienced players such as quicks Matt Dixon and Andrew Tye, and batsman Marcus Harris had been thrown in the deep end, but each played a prominent role in toppling the Sixers despite the Scorchers losing 7-45 during their innings.
“That’s the exciting part about tonight … there’s a lot more we can do better as well,” Voges told AAP following Perth’s second win in three games.
From New Year’s Day, the Scorchers face a tournament-shaping run of four games in 11 days, which is likely to decide their fate.
“We’ve got a big chunk of games coming up now, so if we can hold our own in these next two weeks, we could see, on paper, a stronger team come the back end of the tournament,” Voges said.
“There’s four of five top quality T20 players we’d love to have back in this side but, having said that, it’s very hard to change a winning team and the boys are going beautifully at the moment.”
Voges said Brad Hogg was the closest to returning but added that “43-year-old hammys still take that little bit longer to heal”.
Successfully defending a modest total has become a trademark of a Scorchers side Voges conceded is not a consistently high scoring one.
“We probably make modest totals more often than we probably should,” Voges said.
“We’ve tried to build a bit of a reputation as a team that doesn’t go away.
“Even though we don’t always post big totals, we defend them to the very last ball.”
Monday’s win continued the recent golden run for WA teams at the SCG, following the Scorchers’ two wins there last summer and the Warriors’ domestic cup final victory at the same venue earlier this season.
