Mitch Marsh cracked an unbeaten 77 off 57 balls to help lift the Perth Scorchers to 5-156 in their Twenty20 Big Bash League final against Sydney Sixers at the WACA Ground on Saturday.
The Scorchers were reeling at 2-2 after Brett Lee (2-21 off four overs) snared the key wickets of Herschelle Gibbs (0) and Luke Ronchi (2) in the opening over.
But a blistering knock from rising star Marsh and handy cameos from Paul Collingwood (32 off 25) and Marcus North (22) propelled the Scorchers to the defendable total.
Marsh cracked five fours and four sixes in his quick-fire knock and was particularly brutal near the end as he combined with Simon Katich to take 21 runs off Mitchell Starc’s final over.
But the 20-year-old blaster received a life on 55 when Stephen O’Keefe dropped a simple chance at mid-wicket.
Lee’s double strike in the opening over put Perth on the back foot.
Gibbs couldn’t believe his luck after cracking Lee straight to backward square leg first ball, standing his ground for a good 10 seconds before walking off in disbelief.
Things went from bad to worse for the Scorchers when Lee found the edge of Ronchi, but a 58-run partnership between Marsh and North put Perth back on track.