The Sixers are considering a batting order shake-up which could see a star opener shifted down the order — in an attempt to unlock his full potential.
Josh Phillipe is the Sydney team in pink’s best ever opening batsmen, scoring 2,187 runs and being named at the top of the order in 93 of his 97 innings.
However, he could shuffle down to No.13 in a bid to ensure he faces more overs of spin bowling in the BBL opener against the Scorchers.
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“We’ve got some competition (for top order spots) with Dan Hughes, Babar and Josh – it will depend on some fitness and what’s going on balance-wise,” captain Moises Henriques said to cricket.com.au.
“I want ‘Flip’ (Philippe) to face a lot more spin this year because he’s probably our best player of spin.
“The last year or two with the Powerplay (fielding restrictions permitting only two fielders outside the circle at the start of the innings) coming down to four overs (from six overs), he may have not had the same impact opening the batting that he has in the past.
“So I’d like to keep him for when there’s five players out a little bit more often because he’s such a good player of spin.”
Phillipe finished the franchise’s BBL14 campaign at No.3, belting 16 off 12 balls in the challenger final against the Thunder.
His shift could see Daniel Hughes, who missed last season due to an elbow injury, named at the top of the order alongside Pakistani superstar Babar Azam.
Elsewhere, for the Scorchers New Zealand international Finn Allen will slot in as an opener, and he’s hopeful he can find form at Perth Stadium.
In his 10 games in BBL14, he scored 181 runs with a strike rate of 184.69 — but managed only 10 runs from four innings to start the season.
Scoring runs at the Scorchers’ home ground proved to be a big hurdle for the Kiwi gun, who has another chance to deliver in BBL15.
“I probably got too caught up in the conditions, the bounce and sideways movement,” Allen said to ESPN cricinfo.
“Something that I worked on during last season was being a little bit more side on to get more control of my swing and to keep my head as still and level as possible.
“I think I probably didn’t have enough time to feel comfortable in that set-up last year, but I’ll be more comfortable this time around. If you can score runs at Optus then you can probably score runs anywhere.”
Perth Scorchers 14-man squad: Ashton Agar, Finn Allen, Mahli Beardman, Cooper Connolly. Brody Couch, Joel Curtis (wk), Laurie Evans, Sam Fanning, Aaron Hardie, Nick Hobson, Bryce Jackson, Mitch Marsh, Joel Paris, Ashton Turner (c)
Sydney Sixers 14-man squad: Babar Azam, Joel Davies, Ben Dwarshuis, Jack Edwards, Moises Henriques (c), Daniel Hughes, Hayden Kerr, Ben Manenti, Todd Murphy, Mitch Perry, Josh Philippe (wk), Lachlan Shaw, Harjas Singh, Charlie Stobo
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