Scorchers adamant belief intact after Smith masterpiece

Perth captain Ashton Turner insists the Scorchers' confidence won't be broken by their losing streak, as they scrap to avoid a rare absence from the KFC BBL's finals.

Soundly beaten by Steve Smith and the Sydney Sixers on Saturday, the Scorchers now face a must-win clash against the Sydney Thunder on Monday night at ENGIE Stadium.

They will also need to beat Adelaide next Saturday to have any hope of playing finals, as well as relying on other results going in their favour.

The Scorchers have been one of the most dominant teams in the BBL, playing finals in 11 of 13 seasons and only dropping three games in a row thrice before their current run.

But their hopes of reaching this year's top four are dwindling, after letting matches slip against the Thunder and Melbourne Renegades at home before Smith's Saturday clinic where he hit an unbeaten 121 off 64 balls to set up victory.

"We have made our bed and we have to lie in it," Turner said. 

"It is disappointing the way we have performed in these last couple of games. But there is still a lot of belief in this group. 

"We have been too successful for too long for that to dissipate overnight. We have a lot of quality cricketers, we have some exciting young cricketers coming through.

"We still believe we are one of, if not the best team in this competition."

Turner said his side could not kick stones at being left at the mercy of Smith's batting brilliance, after being one of the unlucky teams to draw the Sixers while the 35-year-old Test star is available.

Instead, he conceded it was good for the Big Bash that Smith was available to play matches and rack up runs, like he did with his 121no at the SCG.

The Scorchers remain without their own Australian star, with Mitch Marsh back home in Perth with his young family following the Test summer.

But regardless, Turner was adamant the Scorchers had every right to believe they were among the leading teams in the BBL and could salvage their season.

"We talk about it, but there is also innate confidence," Turner said. 

"You can't buy confidence on a shelf. You can puff your chest out and fake it a little bit. 

"But the only way to get confidence is to perform, bat well and bowl well, win games of cricket, win trophies, and we've done that over the past few years."

Smith was 31 off 27 balls just shy of the halfway mark before he said "something clicked" and he smashed 90 runs from his next 37 deliveries faced.

"It was a good one, particularly after the way I started, I could barely spell bat the first 10 balls I faced," Smith said.

"Something just clicked after that, I felt quite nice.

"I love batting here at the SCG. I know the pockets of the ground I can target. We had the short side I was trying to take advantage of.

"And then use the long side when they bowled out there too."

The Sixers, who went back to the top of the BBL|14 standings following their 14-run win over the Scorchers, next face the Strikers at Adelaide Oval on Wednesday night.

KFC BBL|14 standings

Team	Matches played M	Wins W	Losses L	Ties T	No results N/R	Net Run Rate NRR	Deductions Ded.	Total points PTS
1 Sydney Sixers Men SIX	8	5	2	0	1	0.156	0	11
2 Hobart Hurricanes Men HUR	7	5	1	0	1	0.104	0	11
3 Sydney Thunder Men THU	8	4	3	0	1	-0.062	0	9
4 Brisbane Heat Men HEA	8	3	4	0	1	-0.863	0	7
5 Perth Scorchers Men SCO	8	3	5	0	0	0.467	0	6
6 Melbourne Renegades Men REN	7	3	4	0	0	0.392	0	6
7 Adelaide Strikers Men STR	8	3	5	0	0	0.092	0	6
8 Melbourne Stars Men STA	8	3	5	0	0	-0.356	0	6

Legend

M: Matches played

W: Wins

L: Losses

T: Ties

N/R: No results

NRR: Net Run Rate

Ded.: Deductions

PTS: Total points