Brisbane Heat will enter Saturday’s WBBL final on a roll after smashing the highest score in a finals game to sink the Perth Scorchers by 67 runs at the WACA on Wednesday night.
One night after downing the Sydney Thunder at home, the Heat continued to build momentum in Perth with a sea of batting contributors led by a blistering half-century from Grace Harris.
The Strikers have won their last five games but the Heat will fancy themselves in the final after playing two extra games leading in and posting a formidable 5-197 against the Scorchers.
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Tasked with a league record chase to advance to the final, the Scorchers lost wickets regularly after stingy early spells from Nicola Hancock and Georgia Voll caused the required run rate to quickly soar above 12 per over.
Harris threatened to repeat the pyrotechnics of her record-breaking 136 in her early season meeting against the Scorchers as she raced to a 26-ball fifty including 10 fours and a six.
It took a stroke of luck for the Scorchers to remove the big-hitting right-hander, as Harris reviewed an lbw decision which to the naked eye could have been missing her leg stump but was deemed out by umpires’ call.
Opening partner Georgia Redmayne followed Harris back to the pavilion in the next over as the Heat went from 0-68 after seven overs to 2-77, but while their scoring slowed, the visitors continued to bat in solid partnerships.
Star leg-spinner Alana King (3-30) was a constant threat but was powerless to stop Charli Knott, who delivered her highest WBBL score with 32 from 14 balls as the Heat clubbed 58 off the last four overs of the innings to register the fourth-highest score of the tournament.
English opener Lauren Winfield-Hill swung hard for 15 off the first eight balls of the Scorchers’ chase but came unstuck when she miscued a pull shot to mid-on off the bowling of Nicola Hancock.
Hancock claimed 1-8 from her first two overs to immediately put the Heat on the back foot, putting Beth Mooney under fierce pressure before she tried to take on Jess Jonassen’s first ball after the powerplay and holed out to long-on for 18.
Part-time off-spinner Voll, who had just five WBBL wickets to her name entering the clash, claimed 4-19, including the wickets of Chloe Piparo and Sophie Devine after forcing both into desperate skied shots in her first two overs.
The Scorchers limped to 8-130 from their 20 overs to bow out of the tournament with a fourth consecutive loss.
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