The Scorchers and Heat put on a Friday night thriller in the BBL last week, with Perth setting the biggest run chase in BBL history with 257 runs.

Finn Allen and Cooper Connolly established a strong partnership of 142 off 64 to put the Scorchers in a good position at the end of the first innings.

36 sixes were hit over the duration of the game, with 14 of them coming from that red-hot Scorchers partnership.

Perth’s dominance seemed to continue into the second innings with Colin Munro being caught first ball for a golden duck.

Matt Renshaw and Jack Wildermuth both scored centuries to give the Heat a shot at chasing down the Scorchers’ record total, hitting a further 18 sixes between them.

Wildermuth was able to knock one toward deep backward point and score two off a misfield from Brodie Couch, leading Brisbane to an eight wicket win with one ball remaining. 

Scorchers Assistant Coach Tim MacDonald joined Sports Breakfast this morning to review Friday’s thriller.

He described the pitch as an ‘absolute belter’, mentioning that it was ‘probably one of the better BBL pitches’.

The game took place on pitch seven at the Gabba, creating a short boundary which was key to winning the game given it was used correctly.

“We kind of knew that the game was going to revolve around the short side and the team that defended that best was going to win the game,” he said.

“We tried to protect that short side and bowl toward the long side as much as we could but we probably didn’t get that right enough.”

MacDonald boiled it down to poor defence in the second innings that let the Heat snatch what looked like a certain win for the Scorchers.

“We kind of clawed our way back into the game, the last eight overs we bowled only went for 80-odd, there were only 7 or 8 boundaries so it was probably the best defensive period of the game for both teams,” he said.

“It’s so early in the competition and the boys are so excited about the line-up and the squad that we’ve got so I don’t think their heads have dropped yet.

“We did have to bowl 13 extra balls and the no-balls probably cost us a bit extra too.”

Perth play their next game on Boxing Day against reigning premiers, the Hobart Hurricanes.

“We give the players and staff Christmas Day off, we play Boxing Day every year and it’s something we’d like to continue,” he said.

“We want to be the best defensive bowling unit in the competition to match our powerful batting.”

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