BBL|12 preview: Sixers put faith in established class

The perennial contenders are largely unchanged from last season and that's just the way they like it.

The one big change however is the inclusion of Aussie superstar Steve Smith as a replacement player for at least four matches after the conclusion of the New Year's Test against South Africa in early January.

Smith, who captained the Sixers to their first ever BBL title in 2011-12, will go head-to-head with David Warner in the Sydney Smash at the SCG on January 21 in what shapes as one of the showdowns of the tournament.

The Sixers squad continuity also extends to their overseas draft picks with James Vince coming back for a fifth straight season and Chris Jordan back for another year, although the England T20 World Cup champion will miss the opening few games with a nerve issue and will only arrive in Australia later this week.

"With each year it goes beyond just playing for yourself and just trying to be your best and you end up playing for the people next to you and the team and the club and the fans, that's why we keep bringing back James Vince," Sixers captain Moises Henriques told cricket.com.au.

"That actually takes a while to truly set in … that's a huge part of why we've been so keen to get him back and get playing for us."

Their third draft pick – young Afghanistan spinner Izharulhaq Naveed – could provide a point of difference for the Sixers and will be part of a four-strong spinning contingent boasting the likes of the evergreen Steve O'Keefe, Test great Nathan Lyon and emerging Victorian off-spinner Todd Murphy.

Dan Christian will also be going around again, while experienced allrounders Henriques and Sean Abbott will be there to support the Sixers' new headline act in Hayden Kerr.

BBL|11 result: Runners-up

BBL|12 Draft picks: Chris Jordan (5th – Platinum), James Vince (13th – Gold), Izharulhaq Naveed (28th – Bronze)

Squad: Sean Abbott, Jackson Bird, Dan Christian, Ben Dwarshuis, Jack Edwards, Mickey Edwards, Moises Henriques (c), Daniel Hughes, Chris Jordan (England), Hayden Kerr, Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy, Izharulhaq Naveed (Afghanistan), Steve O'Keefe, Kurtis Patterson, Josh Philippe, Jordan Silk, James Vince (England). Replacement players: Steve Smith, Josh Kann, Naveen-ul-Haq Murid (Afghanistan)

Ins: Izharulhaq Naveed, Kurtis Patterson, Steve Smith, Josh Kann

Outs: Tom Curran, Lloyd Pope, Ben Manenti (Adelaide Strikers), Shadab Khan (Hobart Hurricanes)

Possible best XI: James Vince, Josh Philippe, Daniel Hughes, Moises Henriques, Steve Smith, Jordan Silk, Hayden Kerr, Sean Abbott, Chris Jordan, Nathan Lyon, Steve O'Keefe

Possible best XI for first game: James Vince, Josh Philippe, Daniel Hughes, Moises Henriques, Kurtis Patterson, Jordan Silk, Hayden Kerr, Sean Abbott, Todd Murphy, Ben Dwarshuis, Steve O'Keefe

Inside word with Sixers captain Moises Henriques

List stability

"We might not have the superstars, but we've definitely got the experience and the know-how, which has been proven over time. What we do well is we have a lot of thinkers about the game. I've felt we've (been) underestimated a lot because maybe we didn't have the boundary hitters or the six hitters or lacked the firepower some of the other teams might do. But as we've shown over the years there's always more than one way to win a game of cricket and the likes of Jordan Silk, Daniel Hughes and even Josh Philippe, they can bat in so many different tempos and always try to do whatever the game requires of them.

"We have a lot of guys who contribute throughout the year … a lot of the time we just find it hard to let go because that person might have won us a few games the season before or contributed far beyond runs and wickets and contributed to the ground and helped other players with runs and wickets as well. But at the same time we are ageing, we're not exactly a young team anymore and we do need to look forward to the future to make sure that the team stays strong … as guys like Steven, Daniel and myself can't play forever.

Sixer Steve

"He's heavily invested in the club and always has been. He cares about everyone as well. Whenever he sees something pop up, he's not afraid to text whoever it might be. It's really hard to replace that care and investment; you can bring overseas players in but that's probably why we've continued to go back to people we know because with each season that bond grows tighter and tighter.

"Steve … he's not all out brute force or power, but he's a thinking man's cricketer. And even myself watching him bat and watching him play, I've taken a lot of what he does into my game and I'm sure a lot of our guys have as well. His problem solving, how he goes about trying to win games with the bat, in the field, with his leadership (and) off the field as well with experience."

Image Id: DBC3D1BE7CDE404EB3F3A147E3585D83 Image Caption: Steve Smith batting for the Sixers in BBL|09 // Getty

Who is this season's Hayden Kerr?

"There's no secret as to what Todd Murphy's done since he played for us last year. I remember playing him in a one-day game against Victoria and we scored 350 but he had figures of 10 overs for 40 and I was struggling to hit him, especially for an off-spinner spinning into a right-hander.

"I obviously play with Nathan Lyon a lot, so I don't often get to face him in a game and in a competitive sense he (Murphy) was the best white-ball off-spinner I'd faced in a long time. That definitely sparked my interest and (Sixers coach) Greg (Shipperd) had some ties down there in Victoria with Todd already. I'm hopeful that he's able to keep delivering what he has last year for us in the few games that he played and for the 12 months since he's been playing Victoria in red and white-ball cricket as well."

Draft picks

"Unfortunately, Chris (Jordan) has come down with an injury, he's having some nerve issues somewhere, but he won't be available to play until at least the fourth game for us. We won't be able to see him for the duration that we were hopefully of when the draft was on.

"Vincey (James Vince) joined up with the group pretty seamlessly a few days ago. He came in after a relatively long flight and batted in the nets and it was like someone was putting a ball on a tee for him. There are so many leaders in the group, and he captains his team back home and does a bloody good job of it and won the Hundred (last year) as well. He's another guy who just figures out ways to win games … and they're the type of cricketers we love."

The mystery pick

"We got some good mail from a couple of the Australian Under-19 coaches that their opinion was (Izharulhaq Naveed) had bowled even better than one of the best spinners at the U19 World Cup this year and he'd out bowled his fellow U19 World Cup spinner in Noor Ahmad who had already played in the BBL.

"Nav had performed well not only in terms of wickets but just with his processes and his deliveries, minimal errors and bad balls, ripping the ball hard and into the wicket which I think will be suited to the Australian grounds. I was lucky enough to see him play against the Thunder in a couple of T20 trial games and it was pretty impressive to see him go about his business there."

Scorchers redemption

"I don't think there's anything to carry through at all, at the end of the day we were outplayed significantly every time we played the Scorchers last year; in the first final we were outplayed and in the grand final we were outplayed. If anything it just highlights why we need to train better, train harder, be more athletic in the field … because those little one percenters across a 14-game season I think that's what's the difference between successful teams and not successful teams.

"Not to take anything away from last season, I was very proud of the group and how we got there but we still had an opportunity in that final when we had them 4-30 to go on and win that game, but it wasn't to be … so we need to find a way to get better and knock (the Scorchers) over when that time comes which won't be too far away (on Saturday at Optus Stadium)."

Biggest threat

"T20 is the type of game that any team when they're playing with confidence can knock over any other team so you've always got to be wary of every team you play against. There's that individual brilliance factor that can sometimes win a game and we have relied on that in the past as well.

"I still think the Scorchers are going to be a fantastic team, they have a great domestic list, a lot of their players have been involved in the titles last year at WA and they've gotten off to a great start this year especially in the Shield competition. So they're going to be confident and they're going to have a lot of players who are confident so I think they'll probably start the year as the team that we know if we can play well against them then we'll go a long way to having a good tournament."