Heat thrashes Perth to charge into WBBL 2023 Final

Grace Harris smashed a half-century to deflate Perth Scorchers before offspinner Georgia Voll claimed four wickets as Brisbane Heat stormed into the WBBL final after a commanding performance at the WACA. Charli Knott (32no off 14), Amelia Kerr (31 off 23) and Laura Harris (24 off 11) chipped in with handy scores as the Heat posted the biggest ever total in a WBBL finals match.

In reply, the Scorchers were restricted to 8-130 in front of 2226 fans, with only Natalie Sciver-Brunt (36 off 27) posting any score of note as the Heat comfortably booked a date in Saturday's showdown. The Heat will play their first WBBL final since 2019 when they meet the Strikers at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night.

Needing something special to reel in the Heat's hefty total, Lauren Winfield-Hill (15 off 9) hit three early boundaries but was caught out in the second over, and Chloe Piparo was removed an over later.

Mooney (18 from 16) has a reputation for pulling off challenging chases and the Scorchers' hopes took a significant hit when the Australian opener miscued a shot off Jonassen in the seventh over and was caught at long-off. While Sophie Devine and Sciver-Brunt remained so did the Scorchers' chances, but when the former skied a catch to 'keeper Georgia Redmayne on 13, the job became tougher. The decisive moment arrived in the 13th over when Sciver-Brunt was trapped lbw by Jonassen for a 27-ball 36, leaving the Scorchers 5-99 still needing 99 runs off 42 balls.

"It's always a great match-up when we play them. It's going to be a great final," Voll said with Heat and Strikers having split their two games this season. "It's going to be an awesome atmosphere and hopefully we can knock them over one more time."

Adelaide Strikers are led by Tahila McGrath, who booked their spot in the final as table-toppers post the conclusion of the round-robin games. Brisbane Heat, led by the veteran Jes Jonassen, finished third in the points tally but ended up in the final by beating two teams along the way. Heat defeated Sydney Thunder by 44 runs in the Eliminator, in which they defeated second-placed Perth Scorchers by 67 runs to seal the spot in the final.