Laurie Evans and Ashton Turner played crucial knocks in the middle-order to take the side to a comfortable total. A complete and disciplined bowling performance led by Andrew Tye and Jhye Richardson secured a magnificent title triumph for the side.
There have been no questions surrounding Perth Scorchers deserving to win the Big Bash League this season. They weren’t less than a juggernaut this season, destroying and crushing every opposition that came in their way. Scorchers lost just three matches in the league stage all season and had a straightforward path to the final after finishing on top of the table.
Up against them in the final were Sydney Sixers who had denied them the BBL title last season. Although Scorchers had bested the defending champions thrice in BBL11, they were keen to avoid deja vu in the final. Lightning seemed to have struck twice when they had been reduced to 25/4 but it was then that Laurie Evans and captain Ashton Turner took charge of matters.
Scorchers endured their most horrific powerplay performance in the final when they managed just 14 runs in the first six overs. Reckless shots saw batters getting dismissed cheaply. Instead of holding down the fort, Turner and Evans decided to launch a counter-attack and tried to build momentum. They ended up stitching an audacious 104-run partnership with both batters scoring half-centuries.
Despite Turner’s dismissal, Evans kept the show going, and his unbeaten 76 off 41 took Scorchers to a respectable total of 171/6, which hardly seemed possible at one point.
The Scorchers bowling unit had to make do without the services of Mitchell Marsh, who was suffering from a hamstring niggle. Their bowlers tightened the screws around the Sydney Sixers batters and didn’t give them any room to breathe.
Although Hayden Kerr played a jaw-dropping knock of 98 not out to book Sixers’ seat in the final, he failed to repeat his heroics. Sixers’ hopes suffered another setback when captain Moises Henriques departed with the score at 46/3.
Andrew Tye capped off a phenomenal BBL season with a three-wicket-haul in the final. He led a superb bowling performance as all six bowlers ended up claiming at least a wicket each to bowl out the defending champions for 92 and end their title defence.
Brief scores
Perth Scorchers 171/6 in 20 overs (Evans 76*, Turner 54; Lyon 2/24) defeated Sydney Sixers 92 all out in 16.2 overs (Hughes 42; Tye 3/15, Richardson 2/20) by 79 runs
