Former Scorcher Brad Hogg believes it was two tight losses at home that derailed the Perth Scorchers’ finals hopes for this season, after being eliminated over the weekend. 

The Scorchers finished off their season on a high note with a five-wicket win against the Adelaide Strikers on Saturday evening, and faced a nervous wait over the next 24 hours. 

For Perth to make finals they were relying on the top ranked Hobart Hurricanes to beat a revived Melbourne Stars side – an outcome that didn’t eventuate and left the Scorchers in fifth and out of finals.

The Scorchers had two wins snatched away from them in the final over against the Melbourne Renegades and Sydney Thunder at Optus Stadium – which had they gotten, would have seen them comfortably sitting in the top four. 

Now all there is to lament where it all went wrong for the orange-clad side, as they sit on the sidelines during Big Bash finals for the third time in club history and under coach Adam Voges. 

Reflecting his former side’s season, Hogg admits the Scorchers had a good season, but there were several poor moments that led to the Scorchers’ season ending prematurely. 

“It’s disappointing that you’re not in the finals but at the end of the day you can’t leave it up to the last game and just hope a victory goes your way to get into that final four,” he told SportFM.

“The two opportunities that they missed out on were the Sydney Thunder and the Melbourne Renegades here at home, losing in the dying stage of the game. I think that’s the catalyst that broke the camel’s back this year. 

“For me, I thought they were very good all year, they were the best bowling attack in the Powerplay overs, they were the best bowling attack probably up front but where they really let themselves down with the ball was out the back end. 

“It was just the last five overs that really cost us and also with the bat we had two players in the top ten with most runs. 

“We had the leading run scorer in Cooper Connolly but again it was just poor Powerplay batting, especially in the first half of the season that cost us. Other than that I thought we had a very good year.”

Hogg has also praised Ashton Turner and backed him in as one of the better captains in the Big Bash, following questions surrounding his leadership after the Scorchers’ subpar season. 

The Scorchers skipper has also recommitted himself to the Scorchers for another four seasons during the signing period, and will continue leading the club going forwards. 

Turner will be 36 when his contract expires and is one of the most influential Big Bash player after leading the Scorchers in their back-to-back titles in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons. 

“I think he’s one of the better captains in the competition,” said Hogg.

“If he was fully fit and was able to bowl his right arm off spinners a little bit more and didn’t have his shoulder problems, I could see him captaining the T20 team for Australia. 

“There’s always been big reps on Ashton Turner and look, I think he’s going to be the leader moving forward. 

“When your bowlers in that pressure situation out the back end where normally you’re so good, they’ll just slightly off the money this year in those last five overs, there’s not much you can do.”

Perth’s bowling stocks are rumoured to be shaken up in the off-season with veteran bowlers Jason Behrendorff and Andrew Tye, and Australian T20 captain Mitchell Marsh set to become free agents once the Big Bash Final wraps up. 

Each Big Bash club had the opportunity to lock in deals for next season with 10 players until Sunday evening, with the Scorchers locking away Ashton Agar as their 10th player on deadline day.

Recently, the Scorchers bowlers Jhye Richardson and Lance Morris, and all-rounder Aaron Hardie have signed on and committed themselves to the club for the future. 

Meanwhile young gun Mahli Beardman, in only his second Big Bash game looks to be an exciting prospect, taking three wickets against the Strikers on Sunday. 

With the Melbourne Renegades rumoured to have interest in Behrendorff, Hogg says signing a left-handed quick is a must.

“One thing that we’ve got, is pace Beardman was sensational that last game, very impressed, probably should have been  Man of the Match other than Cooper Connolly,” he said.

“If you’re looking at depth in the pace attack, you’ll want to make sure that you’ve got a left arm quick there especially opening the bowling.

“If Behrendorff is not going to sign and wants to go elsewhere, hopefully he doesn’t, I’d be looking at our local Joel Paris there if we can get him back because you definitely need that quality left arm quick. 

“If you look at all T20 teams around the globe, generally the most successful ones have that left arm option up their sleeve.”

IMAGE: Getty Images