Adelaide Strikers batsman Callum Ferguson rued his team's inability to combine for partnerships in their six-wicket loss to the Melbourne Stars in the Twenty20 Big Bash League.
The visitors won the toss at the MCG on Thursday, but only managed a paltry 125 as they were all out in the last over.
A 36-run opening stand was the biggest partnership the Strikers put together, and Ferguson said it cost them any chance of victory in their final game of the season.
"It was a pretty dirty night," Ferguson said after he top-scored for his team with 41 off 29.
"I think at the end of the night we will look at the strike rates and say maybe there wasn't (enough urgency), but I think while we were out there we were definitely looking to get going."
"Unfortunately we didn't have enough guys get to 20 or 30 balls and really give themselves a chance to launch. We weren't able to keep wickets in hand and build any big partnerships through the middle.''
"We consistently lost wickets a couple overs apart and you can't build any momentum when you do that."
The Stars made a slow start with the bat, but David Hussey's unbeaten 41 guided them to victory and a semi-final berth against the Perth Scorchers.
Despite a sluggish batting performance, Ferguson said the Strikers' plan was to make a fast start and put the Stars, who needed to win, under pressure.
"We went in with a plan that if we won toss we would bat and look to go big and try to get 180-200 and put them under the pump from ball one," Ferguson said.
"Knowing they needed to win to get into the finals they would have to go pretty hard to get the win."
"On a MCG wicket that can tend to be a little bit slower going hard against the new ball can sometimes bring wickets and we thought that was the best way to get the win on the board."
"We set targets pretty well, but unfortunately it didn't work for us tonight."