Sydney Sixers fall short in BBL final as Scorchers confirm dynasty

The Perth Scorchers have confirmed their status as the BBL’s undisputed greatest franchise after sealing their record-extending sixth title with a crushing six-wicket win over arch rivals Sydney Sixers in Perth.

In front of 55,018 fans - setting a new record for a Scorchers home game - English paceman David Payne (3-18) and Jhye Richardson (3-32) starred as the Sixers were skittled for 132 at a rocking Optus Stadium.

Perth reached the victory target with 15 balls to spare on the back of solid knocks from openers Mitch Marsh (44 off 43 balls) and Finn Allen (36 off 22 balls). Josh Inglis (29 off 26) hit the winning runs with a big six down the ground in the 18th over as the Scorchers finished at 4-133.

Sunday’s grand final marked the sixth time in 15 seasons the Scorchers and Sixers had met in the decider, with Perth now holding a 4-2 advantage in those matches. In total, the Scorches have six titles from nine grand final appearances, with the Sixers the next best franchise with three crowns from eight deciders.

“It gives you goosebumps,” Richardson told Fox Sports after the match. “55,000 of the best fans, I love the Perth Scorchers. We’ve been so lucky to be so successful. It’s been a great season. To top it off like that, it’s a good feeling.”

Sixers opener Steve Smith loomed as the danger man in Sunday’s heavyweight bout, but the Scorchers successfully used a review in the sixth over to send him packing LBW for 24 off 13 balls at the hands of Aaron Hardie (1-16 off three overs). Once Smith departed, Sydney struggled for any sort of fluency, with Josh Philippe (24 off 24), Moises Henriques (24 off 27) and Joel Davies (19 off 14) all failing to go on with the job.

The two-over Power Surge in the 15th and 16th overs yielded a horrendous return of 3-10 for the Sixers as Payne and Richardson wreaked havoc.

Payne thought he had his fourth wicket later in the innings when Cooper Connolly pulled off a stunning diving catch on the boundary - with the rising star managing to stop himself sliding into the rope. But replays showed Connolly had grounded the ball at the end of his slide, earning Jack Davies a reprieve on 13 despite him having walked off the field.

The boos were intense as Scorchers fans aired their grievances, but the jeers turned into a loud roar next over when Richardson bowled Davies for 19.

Marsh and Allen made light work of the run chase, piling on 80 runs in 8.1 overs to send the Scorchers on their way, with a stunning, one-handed catch from Jack Edwards the only real highlight for the visitors.

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It’s late, we’re all tired. Not as tired as the players no doubt, but watching TV takes it out of you. It’s been a fun final. Hope you’ve enjoyed it. All the best until next time.

The Perth Scorchers have confirmed their status as the BBL’s undisputed greatest franchise after sealing their record-extending sixth title with a crushing six-wicket win over arch rivals Sydney Sixers in Perth.

In front of 55,018 fans - setting a new record for a Scorchers home game - English paceman David Payne (3-18) and Jhye Richardson (3-32) starred as the Sixers were skittled for 132 at a rocking Optus Stadium.

Perth reached the victory target with 15 balls to spare on the back of solid knocks from openers Mitch Marsh (44 off 43 balls) and Finn Allen (36 off 22 balls). Josh Inglis (29 off 26) hit the winning runs with a big six down the ground in the 18th over as the Scorchers finished at 4-133.

Sunday’s grand final marked the sixth time in 15 seasons the Scorchers and Sixers had met in the decider, with Perth now holding a 4-2 advantage in those matches. In total, the Scorches have six titles from nine grand final appearances, with the Sixers the next best franchise with three crowns from eight deciders.

“It gives you goosebumps,” Richardson told Fox Sports after the match. “55,000 of the best fans, I love the Perth Scorchers. We’ve been so lucky to be so successful. It’s been a great season. To top it off like that, it’s a good feeling.”

Sixers opener Steve Smith loomed as the danger man in Sunday’s heavyweight bout, but the Scorchers successfully used a review in the sixth over to send him packing LBW for 24 off 13 balls at the hands of Aaron Hardie (1-16 off three overs). Once Smith departed, Sydney struggled for any sort of fluency, with Josh Philippe (24 off 24), Moises Henriques (24 off 27) and Joel Davies (19 off 14) all failing to go on with the job.

The two-over Power Surge in the 15th and 16th overs yielded a horrendous return of 3-10 for the Sixers as Payne and Richardson wreaked havoc.

Payne thought he had his fourth wicket later in the innings when Cooper Connolly pulled off a stunning diving catch on the boundary - with the rising star managing to stop himself sliding into the rope. But replays showed Connolly had grounded the ball at the end of his slide, earning Jack Davies a reprieve on 13 despite him having walked off the field.

The boos were intense as Scorchers fans aired their grievances, but the jeers turned into a loud roar next over when Richardson bowled Davies for 19.

Marsh and Allen made light work of the run chase, piling on 80 runs in 8.1 overs to send the Scorchers on their way, with a stunning, one-handed catch from Jack Edwards the only real highlight for the visitors.

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For the last 10 months, there’s been a huge amount of planning - time on the phone, emails, conversations - about how we could best prepare for this tournament,” says the Scorchers captain. “To then put those plans into action over the past week has been exhausting but incredibly exciting. To cap it all off with a trophy makes it immensely satisfying.

“I’ve said it plenty over the last 24 hours - it was no surprise that the Sixers were a massive challenge. We have enormous respect for them as a club and as a team. The values they stand for - continuity, competitiveness - are things we relate to strongly. So to Moises and Greg [Shippard], congratulations on a great season. We know playing you is never easy, and this certainly won’t be the last battle between us.”

And fair enough. The guy took three wickets and almost a fourth.

“It’s hard to describe any emotion right now,” he says at the presentation. “I’m elated. Elated for the Perth fans [because] they’re the ones who turned out tonight and made this the final what it was. And then to the boys - they were just awesome again. It’s not really sunk in ... I’m sure it will over time.”

There we have it. They’ve won by six wickets, with 15 balls to spare. It took them a little longer than it might have, and Sydney hung in there as long as they could, but probably needed at least 30 more runs to really challenge Perth tonight.

If the Sixers truly challenged Perth’s supremacy this season, the one-sided nature of this decider has exposed the gap that still exists between the two teams. They won the flip and set about disassembling Sydney’s batting order - including the most valuable wicket of Steve Smith for an underwhelming 24 by his lofty standards - and restricted them to a modest total of 132.

After that came execution with the bat, anchored by Marsh (44 off 43 balls) and headlined by Allen overtaking Warner’s 433 runs to finish as the tournament’s leading run-scorer. Edwards made arguably the catch of the tournament but it mattered little by that point.

He managed two runs in that time until Smith caught him out early in an Edwards over.

Scorchers are 12 runs away from the title!

He will not get to see out this title, which feels unfair given he’s been the stabilising force from the start of the innings and took two catches (Shaw and Henriques) before that.

Abbott gets him in his opening delivery of over 16. Marsh is maybe going for a cheeky flick here but ends up lobbing invitingly to Starc at third man. The quick barely has to move to confirm Marsh’s fate, and he walks off the field to loud applause as Ashton Turner makes his way out.

Scorchers 3-120 (Inglis 21, Turner 2) after 16 overs, need 13 runs from 24 balls