Perth Scorchers Wins The 12 edition of Big Bash League
Perth Scorchers are Big Bash League 12 champions. What a night at Optus Stadium! Nobody could have imagined a better BBL final than this. What a team Perth Scorchers is. Absolutely marvellous as it has been proved time by time that they can win a game out of any situation.
Tonight Perth Scorchers needed a new hero or so to say a couple of heroes. These heroes were Nick Hobson and 19 years old Cooper Connolly. When the game looked dead for Perth Scorchers, they came and conquered everything in mere 16 balls.
Optus Stadium was packed, there were 55,000 people cheering for the team in orange, blazing flames in every corner of the ground. Till the last over, nobody knew who will win the game.
GAME OVER. WHAT A GAME.@ScorchersBBL are BBL champions!#BBL12 pic.twitter.com/wfcVqfYpZc
— 7Cricket (@7Cricket) February 4, 2023
Being called underdogs of the tournament, Brisbane Heat really made everyone surprise with their long run to the finals. Batting first they posted 176 on board which was a hefty total considering the nerves of the finals.
Max Bryant played a wonderful innings to help the team reach 170 plus on board. During the half time break, Brisbane Heat coach did say that they would have like 10-15 runs more on this pitch.
But what chase. Perth Scorchers did well in the powerplay, scoring 31 runs without losing any wicket. However, a terrific mistake by Eskinazi cost allowed Brisbane Heat to the home side under pressure.
Cameron Bancroft and Aaron Hardie couldn’t convert their starts into big innings. When cool and calm Ashton Turner came to bat, the revival of Perth Scorchers in the match started after losing 3 wickets for 50 runs.
After 10 overs mark, Josh Inglis and Ashton Turner started to accumulate 10 runs per over consistently and within 6 overs they were back in the game, needing only 46 runs of the last 4 overs.
But match took a decisive turn and in a single over both set batsmen lost their wickets. Turner (52 off 31 balls) was unlucky as he was runout by his teammate Nick Hobson.
Perth Scorchers needed 39 off last 18 balls then started Cooper Connolly show who bagged 18 runs of Bazley over and Perth Scorchers needed only 20 of last 12 balls.
Spencer Johnson bowled a decent over but still conceded 10 runs and missed catch out chance from Josh Brown who put down Connolly in a nervy moment.
Defending 10 runs off last 6 balls in always a tough task but Michael Neser who won the match for team in the previous match had the opportunity to do so again. Single on the first ball made things calm but on the very next ball, he presented a full toss to Hobson who clubbed in over long on for a six. Then on the next ball another full toss which he sliced over third man for a boundary and Perth Scorchers became the BBL 12 champions.
The most successful franchise of the tournament has won 5 titles now. 2 back to back after doing it last year.
Here’s what players said:
Jimmy Peirson | Brisbane captain: What an atmosphere, well done Perth. My congratulations to Perth Scorchers – best team of tournament and you thoroughly deserve this. We’ve come a long way this season, immensely proud of this team. We’ve played some good cricket, we’ll go well next season as well.
Ashton Turner | Player of the Final: It’s a surreal feeling. The support has been overwhelming. We have a lot of guys in form and that’s not always the case. There’s been a lot of guys who have contributed to wins. We have played an exciting brand of cricket.
AJ Tye: Credit to Brisbane Heat, they defended pretty decently but the 19-year-old came out and finished it off. What a game, what a crowd, amazing! I wanted most of the game from the dugout, but the energy on the bench was nuts when Cooper started hitting them.
Cooper Connolly: Pretty good for me. Wanted to keep my shape and hit through the line. At 19 to have this crowd cheer for me, couldn’t have asked for anything better. Today was the best opportunity for all of us to chip in, a dream come true to win a Big Bash title.