Perth Scorchers win fifth BBL title
They defeated Brisbane Heat in the final
Cooper Connolly smacked an unbeaten 25 to help Perth Scorchers register a nail-biting five-wicket win over Brisbane Heat in the Big Bash League (BBL) final at Perth Stadium on Saturday.
Heat posted 175-7 from their 20 overs after deciding to bat, but the defending champions proved too strong and worked their way to 178-5 with four balls to spare.
The Scorchers extended their BBL dominance to five titles from 12 editions.
With his team needing 39 from 19 balls, Connolly, playing in only his fourth Twenty20, took responsibility for the chase and smoked two huge sixes and a four.
Defending 10 from the final over, Heat pacer Michael Neser conceded multiple boundaries to Nick Hobson (18 not out).
Earlier, captain Ashton Turner hit five boundaries and two sixes to keep the match on a knife-edge, supported by Josh Inglis (26).
When Turner was run-out for 53, Connolly and Hobson's stunning partnership changed the course of the match.
Batting first, opener Josh Brown got the Heat off to a great start, smashing 25 runs in the first two overs of the match before being caught. Sam Heazlett (34) and Nathan McSweeney (41) then consolidated to create a solid platform for the innings.
Aggressive intent in the batting powerplay in the 13th over cost them though as both Heazlett and skipper Jimmy Peirson (3) swiped Jason Behrendorff (2-26) to short fine leg.
After smashing 31 from 14 balls, Max Bryant skied a short Matt Kelly (2-37) delivery to keeper Inglis behind the stumps.
The Heat and Scorchers were backed by a lively crowd of 53,886 — a BBL final record.
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