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Smith's BBL final chances over, Henriques, O'Keefe to play

Steve Smith will not play in the KFC BBL|11 final for the Sydney Sixers tonight after a third request to make him available for selection was knocked back

Steve Smith's chances of playing in the KFC BBL|11 final tonight are officially over but Sydney Sixers captain Moises Henriques and veteran tweaker Steve O'Keefe will play through calf injuries.

Despite more than half of their first-choice XI nursing injuries or having tested positive to COVID-19, Henriques declared yesterday they didn't want to bring anybody else into their side apart from Australia's Test vice-captain.

But another request to bring the Australia No. 4 into the team for the final against the Perth Scorchers on Friday night at Marvel Stadium was rejected, with the Sixers since moving on.

The only way Smith would have been able to play in the decider was if he was added to the Centralised Player Replacement pool, which would have needed to be ticked off by the BBL Technical Committee, but it's believed officials determined that there was adequate batting cover available for the Sixers in the pool.

The Sixers are now weighing up whether they play an extra bowler, or bring in another batter from the replacement pool, which consists of left-hand batters Nick Bertus, Jake Carder and Lachlan Hearne, right-arm quick Iain Carlisle and left-armer Nick Winter. Wicketkeeper Jay Lenton is also in the pool but he will play in place of Josh Philippe who has COVID.

Henriques said he would be fine to play tomorrow night despite his calf injury, while O'Keefe was also likely to be okay in what could be the last Big Bash match of his career.

Jordan Silk has been ruled out with a hamstring injury while Daniel Hughes, who was replaced by Carder before Wednesday night's clash, faces a fitness test on his left ankle.

"We've definitely asked to bring him (Smith) into the pool," Henriques said on Thursday.

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"Unless we can get Steve, I'm not sure there's anyone left in the pool that we want to bring in.

"We'll look within our own resources before looking out, whether that is playing an extra bowler. We don't know what the balance might look like to be honest, it's something we've got to try and make a decision on by the time the game starts tomorrow.

"We have enough players to field an XI, it's just we'd probably have to pick bowlers to bat in positions."

Hughes remains an outside chance of playing; he did not complete any fielding during a fitness test before the Strikers clash and was ruled out after batting in the nets.

"It adds a bit of complexity when you're carrying a couple of people in the field already … in a T20 game it becomes very difficult because fielding is such a huge component of the game," Henriques said.

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"It's not often you get to play in grand finals, and we've got a little bit of a break now before our next fixture, so I'm hoping (my calf) doesn't get any worse but they're the risks you take to play in the matches that you work so hard for."

Alistair Dobson, Cricket Australia’s General Manager of Big Bash Leagues, told SEN on Thursday that the "door was always open" for discussions with the Sixers on whether Smith fits the criteria of a replacement player.

"Steve Smith wasn’t on the Sixers list. They’ve looked to bring him in as a replacement player. We have some quite specific rules around that, he didn’t fit those rules or that criteria as the rules are presented," Dobson said.

"Clearly the Sixers have got some further challenges after last night. We’ll (have discussions) with them (Thursday) and establish whether they need to bring in any further replacements."

The Sixers had made an application to contract Smith before the finals last week, when he suddenly became available with the New Zealand ODI series postponed.

However, that was dismissed by Cricket Australia and the clubs, after it was agreed mid-season new players could only come from the replacement pool set to deal with COVID-19 outbreaks.

A fresh request was made before the Sixers' clash with Adelaide when Philippe contracted COVID-19 and Hughes was injured, but it was again knocked back.

The spate of injuries from the Strikers match had then prompted a third bid, before its denial spelled the end of any hopes of Smith playing in the final.

Meanwhile, Scorchers captain Ashton Turner said Mitch Marsh would definitely play after missing their fielding innings in the Qualifier final against the Sixers last Saturday.

"I'm not sure about bowling but he'll definitely play as a batter," Turner said.

"I saw him chase my daughter at the park the other day so he's moving okay."

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Scans cleared Marsh of serious damage, and coach Adam Voges said they would have a final training session on Thursday, with a final call on the 30-year-old to be made before the game.

Turner also said he had no problems if Smith was to line up for the Sixers.

"I like playing against the best players in the world and Steve is one of those guys," he said.

"We feel like if we want to win this competition, we've got to beat the best players and if he's a part of that Sixers team well then that's a challenge that we look forward to.

"The last few games as a fan I would have liked to have seen Steve Smith playing so I probably can't change my tune now just because we're matching up against them."

Cameron Bancroft, Matt Kelly and Chris Sabburg have been included in the Scorchers squad and are in the mix for selection after recovering from COVID-19.