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Henriques hangs onto Test dream

Despite an ill-timed groin injury, Sydney Sixers' captain Henriques is still hopeful about his Test future

Sydney Sixers captain Moises Henriques still has his sights set on a Test recall after his latest injury blow.

The allrounder suffered a groin injury bowling in the indoor nets before New South Wales' last JLT Sheffield Shield game.

Henriques has played four Tests, the last of which was in Colombo 16 months ago as Australia were swept 3-0 by Sri Lanka, and still dreams of playing a Test match on home soil.

Henriques steps up under pressure for Sixers

With selectors making it clear that they prefer to play a batting allrounder in the side, Henriques knows his path back into Baggy Green will require plenty of runs.

"I'd love to go out and score enough runs and almost take it out of the selectors' hands," he said.

"You don't want it to be a 50-50 decision for the selectors on who to pick, you want to go out there and play well enough to own the selection. Sort of force them to pick you."

Henriques felt a Test recall was within his grasp going into this season, however his groin injury couldn't have come at a worse time for the 30-year-old.

With Mitchell Marsh back in the Test side, Henriques feels optimistic that a return to form in the future could see him recalled to the Australian set-up.

"If I had been batting as well as I'd liked I feel I would have been in the frame," Henriques said.

"I definitely felt close going into the Shield season and felt my performance last year justified that as well, so I need to repeat some good performances and keep playing well.

"I definitely feel like I've got the cricket in me to play Test cricket again."

The injury was also a blow to Henriques preparations for the fast approaching BBL|07 season, where he will lead the Sydney Sixers as captain for the third year in a row.

He's optimistic that despite the setback he won't miss any BBL games, opting to play as a specialist batsman to ease any further injury concerns.

Henriques amazing Super Over sparks Sixers win

Henriques enters BBL|07 boasting an average of 29.10 at a strike rate of 126, with the Sixers having called upon their captain to save the day with the bat on numerous occasions.

His captain's knock of 64 off 34 balls in the semi-final last season steadied the Sixers, and then exploded for 18 off 5 balls in the Super Over to give his team a finals berth.

Henriques' believes that if that form can be replicated, last season's runners-up would be a hard team to beat.

"We went really close last year and I felt we stood out and won a lot of our close games under pressure," Henriques said.

"The younger players will be more experienced, and we'll be looking to those youngers players more especially towards the back end of the season, they can step up and take us to our second BBL title." 

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