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Absent stars hurt Sixers in the end

Missing a host of international players eventually took its toll on the Sydney Sixers

While they might have fallen short of reaching the KFC Big Bash League finals for the fourth time, it's remarkable the Sydney Sixers were even in contention given they consistently field a team at half-strength.

The Sixers, and Melbourne Stars, boast star-studded squads, but the international summer of cricket loots their lists of the best players, testing the depth of the 18-man playing group that swells and shrinks as players come and go throughout the season.

The world's best limited-overs bowler, Mitchell Starc, is a foundation player of the Sixers but has played only four matches in magenta in the last four seasons due to a mix of national selection and injury.

Quick Single: Sixers fall to Thunder

Steve Smith, the reigning International Cricket Council Cricketer of the Year and also a lifelong Sixers member, has played 20 matches for the club in the BBL but none in the past two seasons.

Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon and Steve O'Keefe have all missed games for the SCG-based outfit this summer from answering the call of the national selectors.

It's a testament to the depth of the Stars that they continue to make the BBL finals every season with a playing group that loses players like James Faulkner, Glenn Maxwell and most recently John Hastings.

But the Sixers skipper, hard-hitting opener Nic Maddinson, who himself is on the cusp of Australia selection, is adamant on having world-class players in the squad despite their limited game-time throughout the course of the six-week tournament.

"I think you've got to have the guys in your squad," Maddinson said after the Sixers 46-run loss to the Sydney Thunder. 

WATCH: Maddinson's quickfire knock against the Thunder

"If they play one game a year you're going to win that game. 

"If we have Steve Smith for one game I'm sure he'll play a match-winning innings. 

"If Mitchell Starc plays one game he'll win us a game. 

"So you have to have those guys in the squad for the game they are available because it can turn your season around. 

"As we've seen with some of the other guys; (Glenn) Maxwell's been in great form for the Stars and it's got them into a top four position, so you have to have that in the team."

Big Bash League clubs have the option of replacing players who get called up for national duty, in the same way they can bring in a new squad member if an existing player goes down with injury.

The Sixers have recruited four players – Riley Ayre, Nick Larkin, Charlie Wakim and Will Somerville (who is now de-listed) – as Local Replacement Players this summer to cover the losses of their international players, but it's been on the injury front that Maddinson's men have been hurt most in BBL|05.

Last summer, the Sixers, without Smith and Starc and Hazlewood, lost the BBL final by the smallest of margins, going down to the Perth Scorchers by four wickets from a streaky single off the final ball of the match after Brett Lee resuscitated Sydney's defence with a couple of bolts of lightning.

But this year full-time captain Moises Henriques, the Sixers' best player in the final almost 12 months ago and a man who looked in career-best form in the early stages of BBL|05, played only three games after serving a one-match suspension for maintaining a slow over rate in the BBL|04 final and then tearing his calf muscle two days after Christmas. 

WATCH: Henriques shines for Sixers

And Maddinson says it's been the loss of Henriques, the reliable allrounder, which has been the biggest challenge to overcome in the Sixers 2015-16 campaign.

"Moises (Henriques) is a leader and one guy we can really bank on in the middle order who has been missing, so we've been a little bit short every game. 

"Trying to make up one position with two different players, it's been a tough ride."