PRESSURE ON SIXERS TO FILL DWARSHUIS VOID

FORMER Australian Test quick Jackson Bird and West Indian all-rounder Carlos Brathwaite will need to step up to fill the void left by injured Sydney Sixers bowler Ben Dwarshuis.

Dwarshuis is the leading wickettaker for the Sixers in BBL10, with 11 wickets, but is likely to miss the next couple of games after being subbed out of Wednesday night’s game against the Perth Scorchers at Optus Stadium with a groin injury.

The small glimpse of the Sixers without Dwarshuis spearheading their attack wasn’t pretty. He was able to bowl just one over in their 86-run loss.

The Scorchers, led by an unbeaten 57 from Mitch Marsh, from just 27 balls, were able to set a matchwinning total of 4-183. All of Marsh’s runs came in the last six overs of the innings, when Dwarshuis would normally have been bowling.

Bird, pictured, was playing just his second game for the tournament since overcoming a calf injury. He shared the new ball with Stephen O’Keefe, but struggled with figures of 0-35 from four overs. He also took 1-26 in the recent loss to the Brisbane Heat.

The Sixers hold top spot on the table by just two points. They play the Heat, at Metricon Stadium, on Sunday before facing the second-placed Sydney Thunder in a derby next Wednesday.

Losses in one or both of those games could see the Sixers fall right back in to the pack. Sixers coach Greg Shipperd said the loss to the Scorchers was a wake-up call.

“There are no excuses there; none whatsoever, but (the loss to Perth) will be a kick in the pants for us,” he said after the loss. “I would have thought we had the capacity to challenge that score and along the way take a bonus point with us. But we were miles off tonight and full credit to the Scorchers’ attack who challenged us in a way we should have expected.

“We’ll put this one in the bin pretty quickly; we’ll acknowledge that we weren’t up to standard tonight.

“Carlos Brathwaite only bowled one over tonight, so there’s room for him to bowl more overs.”

In eight games for the Sixers this season, Brathwaite has taken seven wickets, but only one in the past three games. He has also been taken for 86 runs from nine overs at 9.5 runs per over in their past four games.