A cheeky sledge from Moises Henriques has come back to bite the Sydney Sixers amid a run-out controversy in their season-ending loss to Sydney Thunder on Friday night. The Thunder advanced to Monday night’s BBL final against the Hobart Hurricanes after beating the Sixers by four wickets with seven balls remaining.

The Sixers went into the clash with an 18-7 head-to-head record against their cross-town rivals, and captain Henriques was happy to point out their dominance over the Thunder earlier in the season. Speaking ahead of the first Sydney derby in December, Henriques said: “All the games have been circled, but December 21 (against the Thunder), well that’s just an easy two points for us normally, so I haven’t paid that one too much attention.”

Henriques was mucking around and trying to spice up the clash with some banter, but it backfired spectacularly. Thunder captain David Warner said at the time: “If they want to bring cockiness to it then they’ve got to back it up, don’t they? We know it’s a good contest. They’ve hit the upper edge a lot of the time, and they’re a well-structured and well-balanced team.”

Unfortunately for Sixers fans they couldn’t back it up on Friday night. Brad Hodge said in commentary for Channel 7: “It was always going to be spicy on the back of the comments that Moises Henriques made early on in the tournament. Taking two points off the Sydney Thunder is pretty comfortable, and has been in past history, but not tonight.”

Run-out controversy as Sydney Thunder beat Sixers

The biggest talking point from Friday night’s match was the light-up bails after they proved decisive in a controversial moment. With the Thunder chasing 152 for victory, Matthew Gilkes was run-out for 26 despite Jack Edwards appearing to break the stumps with his hands before the ball hit them.

Edwards didn’t even celebrate because he thought he’d messed it up, but replays showed a different story. The third umpire had no option but to give Gilkes out because the bails didn’t light up until it looked like the ball had hit them.

Replays clearly showed Edwards’ hands knocking the bails, but they didn’t light up until the ball was in contact with them, meaning they hadn’t come out of the groove yet. A run-out is only affected once the bail has come out of the groove, and that’s when they light up bright orange to help the umpires.

Speaking in commentary for Channel 7, Ricky Ponting declared the umpire had made the right call based on what the replays showed. “I reckon this will be out. The bails are still on, they’ve stayed in the groove,” he said. “Looks pretty clear to me. I thought he made a mistake in the first place, but he’s got lucky that the bails haven’t completely come out of their groove.”

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But Thunder star Sam Billings disagreed. After making 42 not out to guide his team into the final, the Englishman said: “We know it’s not out. As soon as you see his hand move the stumps, there’s obviously going to be a slight delay with light. He didn’t even celebrate, he knew straight away. That pretty much sums it up.

“This isn’t just the Big Bash. It’s collective around the world, we need to find a better system with decisions like that. Disappointing … unless I’m getting that horribly wrong with the law of the game. But I’m sure if he moves the stumps, it’s not out.”

The decision would almost certainly have been different if the innovative light-up bails weren’t being used, but Henriques believed the right call was made. “If it went the other way, I would have been a little bit disappointed but I could also understand why there is a bit of doubt,” he said. “It could have gone either way.”