The Perth Scorchers have gotten revenge on the Heat to book their place in the BBL finals as Brisbane suffered another Nick Hobson nightmare.
Here are our hits and misses.
Hits
Hobson call
With Richardson cruelled by injury once again the Scorchers had the call of whether to bring in quick Matt Kelly or bolster their batting. With Turner out their batting has looked thin in the middle order, particularly with the diminishing returns of Ashton Agar and the decision to bring in Nick Hobson was vindicated by a brutal 47 off 30 balls to lift the Scorchers out of what looked to be a dire situation.
Fans brave the heat
Despite the Big Bash’s interesting scheduling move to hold the game in the middle of what traditionally is one of the hottest times of our Perth summers, the Scorchers faithful were not perturbed by jumping into the furnace. It was even the perfect place for love to flourish with one couple’s proposal getting a huge roar from the crowd and some of the Scorchers themselves. 32, 583 fans braved the scorching heat to help try and secure their team a vital victory.
Scorchers squeeze
On the 10-year anniversary of their first triumph, the Scorchers fought out an old-school win. In their earlier year’s the power for the Scorchers was their ability to defend virtually anything with the likes of Yasir Arafat, Alfonso Thomas or even Pat Cummins. After a middling total here and a fast start from the Heat the Scorchers clamped on the breaks taking 4/32 between overs 7 to 14 to completely turn the game on its head. All the bowlers contributed but the standout was Andrew Tye with just 4/14 off his four-over spell and will be important given their batting will be without star imports come the finals.
Misses
Top order wilt in the Heat
With Zak Crawley done Stephen Eskinazi returned for just his third game and was the top scorer amongst the top four with 12. It was a grim performance from the Scorchers’ batters with a series of soft dismissals with captain Aaron Hardie’s perhaps the worst of the lot taking on the short ball when his team needed him to dig in. Nick Hobson and Cooper Connolly came in inside 13 overs and did a good repair job but they should’ve had a better base to launch from.
Heavy bails
Cricket bails have proven increasingly stubborn in recent years with tall Paul Walter the latest to fall foul of some stubborn stumps. In the final ball of the innings the ball came off the edge to smash into the base of leg stump and trickle away for a single. While ultimately inconsequential to the game conditions for T20 bowlers are already tough enough without the bails going against them.
Johnson No-ball
It’s a cardinal sin for any bowler, a wicket-off a no-ball. Spencer Johnson had Nick Hobson who just guided one straight into the hands of third man at the start of the power surge on just two. But he had overstepped by the barest of margins and from then on the momentum was all Scorchers. It was Hoboson’s night with the Heat missing two more tough grabs to see the game literally slip through their fingers.
