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The Brisbane Heat secured their first finals appearance since BBL06, surviving a late Mitchell Marsh batting blitz to hold on for a six run win over the Perth Scorchers at the Adelaide Oval on Tuesday.
Perth won the bat flip and surprisingly chose to field first, having had success batting first throughout the tournament.
Despite Jason Behrendorff picking up Max Bryant cheaply it appeared a poor decision when Heat captain Chris Lynn got going, slamming 51 from just 25 balls with four fours and four sixes, taking on the spin of Fawad Ahmed with success as well as the tournament's leading wicket taker Jhye Richardson.
The part time leg-spin of Liam Livingstone ended Lynn's stay, the Scorchers fighting back with the wickets of Joe Denly (11) and Joe Burns (2) in consecutive overs to leave Brisbane 4-100.
Lewis Gregory plundered 36 from 23 balls while Marnus Labuschagne made 46 from 38 deliveries, pushing the score beyond 180 despite some better death bowling from the team in orange.
AJ Tye claimed 2-23 and Jason Behrendorff 2-30 to be the pick of the bowlers, Brisbane with a strong score of 7-181 to defend with the ball.
Openers Jason Roy and Liam Livingstone got off to a fast start, reaching 53 for no loss after six overs before Livingstone charged and missed at Mitch Swepson, out for 32.
The innings then stalled as spin worked wonders for the Heat, Marnus Labuschagne partnering Swepson for a decisive spell that saw the wickets of Colin Munro (7) and Roy (41) fall in quick succession, Labuschagne removing the Kiwi left hander and Swepson luring Roy in to a false shot to be caught at long on.
Labuschagne claimed two huge scalps in one over as he trapped Josh Inglis in front for 12, captain Ashton Turner bowled for a duck as the Scorchers slumped to 5-94.
Mitch Marsh revived the innings with some power hitting towards the death as Perth took the power surge, Aaron Hardie run out after contributing a quick 11 before Jhye Richardson partnered Marsh for a fifty run stand that took the game right to the final ball.
Needing a six to take the game to a super over from the final ball Marsh couldn't get under a well directed yorker from Ben Laughlin, giving the Heat victory by six runs to book a finals berth.
Labuschagne (3-35) and Swepson (2-20) shared five wickets between them to be the stars with the ball for Brisbane, their victory and securing all four points for the match enough to qualify for the BBL finals.
The Scorchers now will face an anxious wait to see if they claim top spot on the BBL table, needing the Melbourne Stars to secure all four points against the Sydney Sixers in the final match of the regular season.
IMAGE: Perth Now.