We gave 15-20 runs extra: Maxwell after losing BBL final against Sydney Thunder

After the defeat over Sydney Thunder by 19-run in the Big Bash League (BBL) summit clash, Melbourne Stars skipper Glenn Maxwell said his side gave 15-20 runs extra while bowling which costed them in chasing 117."I thought we bowled okay, [but] I thought we still gave them about 15 or 20 too many. Through the middle then we just leaked a bit, we just mis-executed and got Jordan Silk into the game," ESPNcricinfo quoted Maxwell as saying.

In a rain-affected match, the overs were curtailed to 12 each side. Chasing 117, Stars got off to a worst possible start as they lost four quick wickets. They were reduced to 25/4 in 4.1 overs as Marcus Stoinis (10), Nic Maddinson (0), Glenn Maxwell (5), and Peter Handscomb (6) were sent back to the pavilion.

Ben Dunk and Nick Larkin stitched 15-runs partnership for the fifth wicket. The former was caught in front of the wickets by Nathan Lyon in the seventh over after scoring 11 runs.Seb Gotch joined Larkin in the middle and added 14-run. Gotch (8) was scalped by Steve O'Keefe in the ninth over.

Nathan Coulter-Nile and Larkin fought hard till the end but the duo was not able to put their side over the line. Stars fell short of 19 runs and managed to score 96/6 in 12 overs. Coulter-Nile scored 19* while Larkin remained unbeaten on 38 runs. For Sixers, Lyon and O'Keefe clinched two wickets each.

"We take one more wicket there and it's probably around 100 off 12 overs and quite comfortable, we don't have to play around with the batting order too much, we could go in the way we've been going. But when it's around 10-an-over, we had to probably go a bit more aggressive. Hence why I went up to three and tried to take it on," Maxwell said.

"If we got off to a half-decent start and got going, it's comfortably chaseable but losing three wickets in the first three overs probably hurts you," he said. "Stoin picked out the one bloke on the fence and I got the one ball that Steve O'Keefe spins all tournament. It happens," he added.

Stars finished at the top of the table after the conclusion of the league stage. They won their ten matches out of 14 topped the standings with 20 points."Last year was pretty tough to take but the fact we had such a dominant season - we played so well throughout the whole tournament and we were able to play a lot of our list and get some game time into different people - it was just such a successful season, to see different guys stand up at different times," he added.