Perth Scorchers and Brisbane Heat played against each other in an exciting match at the Manuka Oval (Canberra) on Thursday night, February 4 in Big Bash League 2020/21 (BBL 10) play-off Challenger. In this rain-interrupted match, the Perth Scorchers secured the final with a 49-run victory (DL method) over their Brisbane Heat .
Brisbane Heat captain Chris Lynn decided to bowl after winning the flip-bat and sent Perth Scorchers to bat.
The batsmen of Scorchers attacked the bowlers of the Heat as soon as they started batting. Scorchers’ two openers Cameron Bancroft and Liam Livingstone made an opening partnership of 114 runs in the first 11 overs. Livingstone picked up his half-century off 27 balls in the eighth over of the innings. Ten overs later, the Heat replaced Mark Steketee with Morne Morkel as their X Factor sub. Even then the Heat did not gain anything.
Morne Morkel conceded 10 runs without taking any wicket in the first two overs but gave away 35 runs taking zero wickets in the last two overs. Liam Livingstone returned to the dressing room with 77 runs off 39 balls in the 12th over off Mitchell Swepson.
Depending on the batting skills of Mitchell Marsh and Bancroft, the Scorchers scored 189 runs losing one wicket in 18.1 overs. After that, it rained in the game. As a result, the Scorchers could not come to bat again. Later (D/L method), the Heat got a huge target of 199 runs in 18 overs. Cameron Bancroft (58*), Liam Livingstone (77), and Mitchell Marsh (49*) scored well for the Scorchers and Mitchell Swepson (1-26, 4 overs) took the only wicket for the heat.
In the 2nd innings, the batting line-up of the Heat broke down like a house of cards in front of the cannons of the opposite bowlers while they went down to bat. Nobody came to the wicket to form a big pair. Though Joe Burns tried, no batsman of the Heat could give him a worthy company. As a result, they lost 9 wickets in 18 overs and ended with 150 runs. Joe Burns (38) was the highest run-scorer for the team and Aaron Hardy was the highest wicket-taker for the Scorchers (3-46, 4 overs).
As a result of winning this match, Perth Scorchers reached the final of BBL 10. The Perth Scorchers will face another finalist, the Sydney Sixers, in the BBL 10 final at the Sydney Cricket Ground on the night of February 8 (Monday).
Playing XIs:
Perth Scorchers – Liam Livingstone, Colin Munro, Mitchell Marsh, Ashton Turner (c), Cameron Bancroft, Josh Inglis (wk), Aaron Hardie, Andrew Tye, Fawad Ahmed, Jhye Richardson, Jason Behrendorff.
Brisbane Heat – Joe Denly, Marnus Labuschagne, Jimmy Peirson (wk), Joe Burns, Chris Lynn (c), Sam Heazlett, Lewis Gregory, Xavier Bartlett, Morne Morkel, Mark Steketee, Mitchell Swepson, Ben Laughlin.
Scoreboard:
Perth Scorchers – 189/1 (18.1)
Fall of wickets: 1-114 (Liam Livingstone, 11.1 over)
Brisbane Heat – 150/9 (18)
Fall of wickets: 1-37 (Denly, 3.5 over), 2-37 (Lynn, 3.6 over), 3-44 (Heazlett, 6.1 over), 4-57 (Labuschagne, 7.3 over), 5-78 (Peirson, 10.2 over), 6-88 (Gregory, 11.3 over), 7-121 (Burns, 14.6 over), 8-134 (Bartlett, 15.5 over), 9-138 (Morkel, 16.4 over)
Result – Perth Scorchers won by 49 runs (DL Method)
Player of the Match – Liam Livingstone
It’s for the final bash in the Big Bash League. Predict the champions and play on Baji!