After another dominant season in the fourth iteration of the Big Bash League, the Perth Scorchers appear primed to become the first side to win back-to-back finals.
Despite the obvious setback of their ‘home’ final being playing in Canberra, due to ground restrictions for the World Cup, this minor hurdle will only galvanise the group in the quest for another BBL title.
While the Sydney Sixers’ star-studded attack pose a legitimate threat, as demonstrated by their stunning take down of the highly favoured Adelaide Strikers, the Scorchers boast a bowling line-up that has been the envy of the competition all season.
With the group set back by the loss of star left-arm quick Joel Paris to injury before the tournament, the Western Australia pace academy has continued to turn out star performers. Jason Behrendorff has been in sterling form throughout the 2014-15 season, while AJ Tye delivered a devastating spell to crush the Melbourne Stars in the semi-final.
Add to this the ageless Bradley George Hogg, wily import Yasir Arafat and the fiery pace of recently returned Nathan Coulter-Nile, and the Sixers batsmen face a formidable task.
Perhaps the biggest difference between the two groups lies in their batting. The Sixers are often inconsistent with the bat, relying on a huge effort from one player to help them reach a decent total (such as Nic Maddinson against the Strikers). All their guns will need to fire if they are to overcome the Scorchers’ bowlers.
In contrast, we have seen more even performances displayed by the Scorchers’ batsmen, who have recovered well from the pre-season defection of gun opener Craig Simmons to the Strikers. Michael Carberry has been in strong form in recent games, and Coulter-Nile demonstrated his destructive capability with the bat in Sunday’s semi.
The Scorchers also have the bonus of Shaun Marsh hitting peak form at the pointy end of the T20 season, while their depth is on display with Ashton Agar relegated to the bench in their semi. Adam Voges is also due for a big score, and ‘keeper Sam Whiteman has also looked good in recent games.
While the Sixers will be keen to send retiring great Brett Lee out with a bang, the consistency and smothering pressure demonstrated by the Scorchers all season are extremely difficult to overcome.
After making four consecutive Big Bash League finals, the Scorchers know what it takes to win on the big stage, and it will take more than a cross-country trek to stop them taking home the silverware tonight.
Paul D
Roar Guru
77 off 57 for S Marsh. Apology accepted Julian.
Renegade
Guest
lol nice g-up.... That Sixers side would have flogged anyone. In fact, the current Sixers side at full strength would breeze through both tournaments.
Renegade
Guest
The Sixers champions aren't even playing though.... Steve Smith, D Warner, Watson, Haddin and Starc are all on ODI duty?? If there's ever a champion team, it's the Sixers... They continue to perform regardless of who plays. A full strength sydney side would be pretty much unbeatable tonight.
Paul D
Roar Guru
Inclined to agree that the Scorchers have been consistently the best side in the BBL over the various incarnations - their champions league campaign was a tad derailed by the Marsh boys amongst others getting stuck into the beers during the tournament, if I recall...
Ash
Guest
Melbourne Renegades dominated BBL02 before choking in the semi-final thereby showing solidarity with their neighbors
haydos
Guest
Perth have won more BBL finals than any other team and equal championships. Perth have never missed the top 4 and finished on top of the ladder once to Sydney's not once. Case closed.
Paul Giles
Guest
Turner is a better batsmen than Agar. Their first class stats are similar with averages of 22 to 24 although Turner has played less matches. In List A games, Turner averages 45 with a strike rate of 91 compared to Agar's ave of 31 with strike rate of 80. In 20/20, Turner ave is 19 with strike rate of 134 compared to Agar's ave of 11 with strike rate of 105. Turner's economy rate in 20/20 is 6.58 compared to Agar's 8.28, so even on the bowling in 20/20, Turner has Agar covered.
Doctor Rotcod
Guest
If you look at the Scorchers fixtures in the Champions trophy this time round,compared to their Indian rivals, the word unfair springs to mind.The Sixers won because the IPL didn't quite have all the control the Indian teams wanted, not because they were any good
Dalgety Carrington
Roar Guru
Strictly speaking, the Champions League success was outside of the BBL, so doesn't really qualify them as the most successful BBL side. ;)
Mike from Tari
Guest
The Sydney Sixers are the most successful BBL side as they are the only BBL team to go on & win the Champions League, now that argument is settled, this game will probably go down to the wire, probably the Sixers turn to win.
Paul D
Roar Guru
Julian - take a deep breath, and step back from the keyboard. I'm very competent. You should try it sometime. For the record, it was intended to be a light-hearted aside, not a serious critique of the polarising persona that is Shaun Marsh Inc.
Dave
Guest
51 k for cricket, not 60. And i'm pretty sure it's been told a billion times why the games in Canberra, have you still not yet figured that out ? Why would they book they play the final in Meblourne ? What happens if a Melbourne team makes the final, little unfair aint it? Manuka was the only option it's really not that hard to figure out
Julian
Guest
Seriously what is with you people who think Marsh only gets in on the back of a good t20 performance? It happened ONCE FFS! And that was only because he was in cracking form for Australia before he got injured, so essentially he was coming straight back into the side (but the only available cricket at the time was BBL, he scored 99 and everyone now thinks thats why he came back into the side, not because he was Australias second best bat at the time). Are people competent at thinking for themselves ?
Paul D
Roar Guru
We host the cricket world cup for the first time in 22 years and people still whinge about the scheduling being impacted. *throws hands up* I’m predicting Shaun Marsh to come out and blaze a massive score. He always manages to turn it on in these sort of games, and usually winds up blagging his way into the national side on a good performance in a domestic T20 or similar.
Daniel Gray
Roar Guru
Given the trouble they had finding an available ground, rescheduling is very unlikely. I'm sure any number of private schools with turf wickets around the country would be happy to assist!
Daniel Gray
Roar Guru
Agreed, Brett. I could only see them potentially dropping Turner for Agar, but very hard to change a winning XI.
Dalgety Carrington
Roar Guru
So showers are due tonight. Let's hope it doesn't reduce it to a wound-salt-rubbing-farce. It's pretty unlikely it'll be washed out, but I take it they wouldn't reschedule?
Brett McKay
Expert
I can't see Perth playing a different XI to the team that won the second SF - so Coulter-Nile in for Agar again..
Brett McKay
Expert
That's not quite true, 13th, the reason for the reschedule is the ICC regulation stating all CWC grounds must be clear for two weeks prior to the first game, which is why all other grounds are out. The WACA also has two ODIs to come on Fri and Sun, and so it would have been logistically tough to get the WACA up for the Final on a few days notice, and then to turn it around for the ODIs.
Daniel Gray
Roar Guru
I wanted to be confident, Chris! Going in with 'the balance of probability indicates, in my considered opinion, that the Scorchers to appear to potentially be the likely victor of tonight's contest' is a little too uncertain for my liking :) As you rightly state, Adelaide were favourites against the Sixers in their semi, and T20 results are probably more unpredictable than any other form of cricket. Thanks again for reading and taking the time to comment.