The Perth Scorchers have produced a commanding performance in Saturday night’s BBL06 final, smashing the Sydney Sixers by nine wickets in front of a capacity crowd at the WACA.
Some sublime batting from Michael Klinger, Sam Whiteman and Ian Bell made light of a Sixers total of 141 that never looked enough, Klinger sending the home side into raptures with a lofted six that brought about the victory with 25 balls to spare.
After losing the toss and being sent in by Scorchers’ captain Adam Voges, the Sixers’ innings was put immediately on the back foot with three wickets in the first four overs, and their innings never truly recovered.
Daniel Hughes was the first to go, trying to force the issue off spinner Ashton Agar with Mitchell Johnson economical as ever up the other end, before Nic Maddinson was run out for one when a rocket arm from Jhye Richardson in the deep caught him millimetres short going for a chancy second run.
Man-of-the-Match Richardson was equally dangerous with ball in hand, picking up three crucial wickets in the middle overs just as Brad Haddin and Moises Henriques looked to have steadied the ship, Haddin particularly impressive in racing to 38 off 25 balls in a flurry of classy boundaries.
Both perished to the short ball within nine deliveries of one another, however, with both set batsmen undone by the pace off the pitch and bunting simple catches to Michael Klinger at mid-wicket.
After Richardson ripped the heart out of the Sixers’ innings, Johan Botha nudged and pushed his way to 32, playing a sensible innings alongside the tail and allowing the Sixers to limp to a somewhat respectable total of 9/141.
But that score quickly looked laughably short as Sam Whiteman and Michael Klinger punished some sloppy Sixers’ bowling, taking 60 runs off the PowerPlay as the crowd began their victory celebrations.
Nathan Lyon managed to winkle out a wicket as Whiteman was stumped for 41 trying out an ungainly slog across the line, but it mattered little as Bell and Klinger cruised home.
Klinger’s unbeaten 71, capped off by five sublime sixes, including the winning blow, took him past 300 runs for the tournament, and also saw him leapfrog Aaron Finch as the highest run-scorer in BBL history.
Sean Abbott was awarded the Under-25 Young Gun Award for an excellent campaign that netted him a competition record 20 wickets, while Brisbane Heat superstar Chris Lynn was named the Player of the Tournament despite being restricted to just five games for the tournament due to international commitments and injury.
The BBL06 title is the Scorchers’ third as a franchise, following on from their BBL03 and 04 triumphs, while the Sixers’ only triumph came in the inaugural Big Bash season in 2011/12.
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