Laurie Evans tees up record-breaking Big Bash title for Perth Scorchers

The English batter scored a player of the match-winning 76 runs from 41 balls to rescue his side from 25 for 4 before a team performance with the ball helped the Scorchers to a 79-run win

Melbourne: Perth Scorchers 171-6, Sydney Sixers 92 – Perth Scorchers won by 79 runs

Perth Scorchers lifted a record-breaking fourth Big Bash title after completing a resounding 79-run victory over defending champions Sydney Sixers in Melbourne.

English batter Laurie Evans was the star, blasting 76 runs from 41 balls to rescue his side from 25 for 4, before a team performance with the ball skittled the Sixers for just 92 runs.

The Scorchers are now the most successful side in Big Bash history, adding this year’s title to early wins in BBL03, BBL04 and BBL06, as well as notching up their third victory over the Sixers in a trophy match.

However, while their hunt for a three-peat was ultimately unsuccessful, credit has to be given to the Sixers for reaching the final with several players absent through Covid-19 or injury and Steve O’Keefe, Moises Henriques and Daniel Hughes walking wounded at the Docklands Stadium.

The defending champions actually had the best of the opening six overs, picking up four early wickets.

^{Player of the match Laurie Evans [Robert Cianflone/Getty Images]}

Opener Kurtis Patterson (1) was the first to depart, caught behind by Jay Lenton off the bowling of Jackson Bird in the second over, and the stand-in keeper was involved in the second wicket to fall, stumping Josh Inglis for 13 one ball after the end of the powerplay.

Nathan Lyon then struck twice in the sixth over to remove big hitting duo Mitchell Marsh (caught Dan Christian) and Colin Munro (caught Bird) and reduce the Scorchers to 25 for 4.

Evans, batting with a broken toe, and Ashton Turner steadied the ship, scoring 15 runs off the next two overs, before the former exploded into life in the ninth, dispatching the usually economical O’Keefe for two fours and a six as part of a 19-run over.

Together, the pair added 104 runs off just 59 balls for the fifth wicket to put a 180-plus total back on the cards for the Scorchers, with Evans blasting 52 runs off 27 balls and Turner contributing 49 off 32.

O’Keefe broke the partnership in the 16th, Turner slicing to Hughes at short third to depart for 54 (35), but it did little to stop the Scorchers’ momentum, with Evans adding 29 runs (18 balls) with Ashton Agar and a further 13 (7 balls) with Jhye Richardson as his side closed on 171 for 6 – an impressive recovery given their early struggles.

Evans top-scored for the Scorchers, dispatching four fours and four sixes as he recorded his second half-century of BBL11 in the most crucial of settings.

Lyon (2 for 24), O’Keefe (2 for 43), Kerr (1 for 20) and Bird (1 for 6) were the wicket-takers for the Sixers, with Kerr and Sean Abbott the only players to bowl more than one over and concede fewer than seven an over.

In reply, the defending champions lost challenger hero Kerr in the second over, caught by Peter Hatzoglou off Jason Behrendorff, but made it through the remainder of the powerplay unscathed.

^{Andrew Tye took 3 for 15 [Kelly Defina/Getty Images]}

However, Turner made a breakthrough at the end of the fifth over, removing Nicholas Bertus for 15 (caught Behrendorff), and the opener was soon followed back to the shed by Henriques, pinned lbw by Agar for seven.

Christian, playing in his 14th T20 franchise final, and Hughes, batting on one leg, shared a 16-run partnership for the fourth wicket but when the former was removed by Andrew Tye (caught Kurtis Patterson) for three on the brink of drinks, it sparked an epic batting collapse which saw the Sixers lose seven wickets for 30 runs.

X-factor substitute Justin Avendano was the next to depart, bowled by Hatzoglou for one in 12th, and Hughes, top-scoring for his side with 42 (33 balls), followed nine balls later, runout by Marsh and Inglis.

Tye then struck twice in two balls to dismiss lower-order dangermen Sean Abbott (1) and Ben Dwarshuis (0) before Richardson bowled Lyon for three to leave Perth Scorchers one wicket away from their fourth Big Bash title.

And despite a valiant 10-run stand between Lenton and O’Keefe for the final wicket, the Sixers couldn’t make it to three figures, Richardson pinning O’Keefe lbw in the 17th to bowl the BBL10 champions out for 92.

Richardson finished with 2 for 20 while Tye was the standout bowler, picking up 3 for 15. Behrendorff, Turner, Hatzoglou and Agar also picked up wickets and no one conceded more than six runs per over in a clinical bowling performance.

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