Hobart Hurricanes captain Matthew Wade has defended his team's lacklustre output in Thursday night's final that ended their Big Bash season fightback without a whimper.
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After fighting up until the eleventh hour to claim their last three games and qualify for the final five, the home team were rolled out for 140 in the 19th over in pursuit of Sydney Thunder's 5-197.
"I certainly don't look at it as a failure," Wade said.
"I think four games ago, we were down and out - I don't think many people would've backed us to even get into the finals.
"A lesser team, a lesser franchise, would have let those games slip and all of a sudden find themselves last on the ladder.
"Just the way we were able to bounce back from some of the pretty poor performances before the last three or four games to get us here, I think it's a credit to the group and the game style that we play."
He blamed injuries for not making a better fist of things.
The Hurricanes had lost allrounder James Faulkner twice while spearhead Riley Meredith was ruled out in the three-game losing slump.
South African David Miller also departed this week for T20 international duties.
"If we could have got those guys back a little bit earlier maybe it would be a different scenario," Wade said.
"On a whole, we'll fill some gaps - as we lost our international this game - and we have some places we need to improve and hopefully can do it in the offseason."
The Thunder looked on track for a massive total after Alex Hales smashed six fours and three sixes towards 60 off 37 balls all the while Usman Khawaja hit seven fours and a six in his fluent 54 off 34.
D'Arcy Short was the sole batter to mount an attack with 37 off 24 balls despite Simon Milenko's late flurry of a more than run-a-ball 28 making no dent in the chase.
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Wade readily admitted the bowlers had no answers.
"We got outplayed tonight - as simple as that," he said.
"You can't look at it any other way to be honest.
"They got off to a flyer with the bat and we didn't bowl anywhere near as good as we had the last three games."
The exception was Nathan Ellis, who bowled 1-18 from four overs to cap off a rookie series of 12 wickets and an economy rate of 7.95 an over.
"I didn't think we would get that out of Ellis," Wade said.
"He was unbelievable bowling in [overs] 4, 6, 18, 20; it's remarkable, his figures, and the way he's been able to execute time and again."
The Hurricanes advanced into the eliminator on the back of Wade telling reporters after their win over the Strikers his side understood how to play Adelaide Oval.
The opener smashed an unbeaten 130 from only 61 balls in the side's 1-217.
The venue would have been Hobart's next trip had the Canes won at home first.
The Thunder had learned from their experience six days earlier to reverse their 57-run loss to a 57-run win.
"It was almost a mirror image of the game," Wade said.
"We did what we did what they did to us the last time we were here. Maybe a little bit.
"They knew the conditions and they executed more than anything else."
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