We were all hoping for a back-to-back-to-back from the Perth Scorchers this season, unfortunately it wasn’t to be.
A possible fairytale end to the season for a relatively young Scorchers side was cut short buy an over-powering Melbourne Stars at the MCG on Friday night. This is the first time that the Scorchers have not made the BIG final in the history of the Big Bash League. Four out of five is still pretty darn good though, right?!
The curse has been broken for the Stars who have been unsuccessful in the past four BBL semi-finals, three of which were due to defeats by the Scorchers. They turned their luck around in a big way and will now host the Sydney Thunder at the MSG in their first BIG final on Sunday.
After a rainy day in Melbourne on Friday (for a change…), the weather cleared up in time for the match and the Stars won the toss and sent the Scorchers in to bat first.
It wasn’t a great innings for Perth, managing a final score of 7/139. The skipper Adam Voges was the top scorer, finishing on 52 from 40 deliveries before being caught by Melbourne’s Ben Hilfenhaus off a ball from Michael Beer. Voges and Michael Klinger tallied a 79-run partnership however, a couple of early wickets made it hard for the Scorchers to reach a score that would be difficult for the Stars to chase.
The Stars came in to bat and Marcus Stoinis clocked up a handy 44 runs before his time ended on a LBW bowled by veteran Scorcher Brad Hogg. Big shot Kevin ‘KP’ Pietersen was the hero for the boys in green, smashing 62 off just 36 balls. He was eventually bowled out by Perth’s Joel Paris but it hardly mattered in the end with the Stars easily reaching the total set by the Scorchers and taking the win by 7 wickets.
Watch the game highlights below:
It’s a shame to see the end of the BBL this weekend, what a great season it has been! Full of huge hits, amazing catches, beautiful bowling and a tiny bit of controversy to get people talking… #DontBlushBaby. Each season we see more and more people jump on the BBL bandwagon and it is easy to see why.
Next season will be even bigger and I can’t wait!
Don’t forget to watch the BBL BIG final between the Melbourne Stars and the Sydney Thunder on Sunday the 24th January, live from the MCG at 4:20pm (AWST).
Let us know your favourite part of #BBL05 at @TweetPerth @EmmaLianaPayne
