Sydney Sixers veteran Moises Henriques has defended the Sydney Cricket Ground's pitch after a low-scoring elimination from this season's Big Bash League.
Taking on the Brisbane Heat in the Challenger, which qualified the Queensland-based outfit for the final of the tournament against the Perth Scorchers on Saturday, the Sixers failed to defend a score of 119.
The pitch was slammed for its difficulty to bat on, as it has for much of the second half of the season.
Henriques though, said the pitch - and differences in wickets - is needed in the competition.
โIt's really good to play on these types of wickets. The best way to get well-rounded cricketers is to be challenged in different conditions,โ he said after the game.
โYou see at Adelaide Oval and some other grounds like at the Gabba that it's an absolute bowler's graveyard, so it's nice to tip the scales into the bowlers' favour for a change and see which batters can use their brains to figure out a tough situation.
โThese wickets are maybe not too dissimilar to what you might face in India or something like that with how low and slow it was and possibly taking a little more spin.
โWhen you get these unique conditions, it sometimes makes for really fun cricket to play because it's so different to what we're used to.
โYou do have to be flexible and be able to adapt to what we've got. I think it'd be boring if they just rolled out the same wicket every week wherever you went.
โTypically, in years gone by at the SCG in Shield cricket, it's been a bit of a spinning wicket, so it'd be nice to get back to that heritage where when you go around Australia, you (get some variety).โ
The Scorchers will enter Saturday's final - to be played at 7:15pm (AEDT) - as heavy favourites.
