Shaun Marsh and Craig Simmons overcame injuries to power the Perth Scorchers to 4-191 in Friday night’s Twenty20 Big Bash League final against Hobart Hurricanes at the WACA Ground.
Marsh, who was cut from the Test tour of South Africa due to a calf injury, thumped an unbeaten 63 off 43 balls after being given a late clearance to play by Cricket Australia.
In-form opener Simmons shook off a minor hip niggle to make 45 off 36 balls.
Mitch Marsh then added the late fireworks, cracking Hurricanes paceman Dimitri Mascarenhas for three consecutive sixes on his way to 37 off 12 balls.
Former Test paceman Ben Hilfenhaus was relatively economical with 1-23 off four overs, but Mascarenhas (1-46), Doug Bollinger (0-38) and Cameron Boyce (0-39) struggled.
Perth were looking shaky at 1-15 after four overs following the cheap dismissal of skipper Simon Katich.
Simmons made a slow start with just six runs from his first 14 balls.
And the 31-year-old was lucky to survive on 18 when Xavier Doherty mis-judged a high ball to spill a diving catch.
But Simmons eventually found his groove, combining for a vital 66-run partnership with Shaun Marsh to set up the innings.
Simmons, who scored his second century of the summer in the semi-final win over Sydney Sixers, couldn’t repeat the heroics, holing out to Mascarenhas at third man.
Mascarenhas drew the ire of the sellout crowd when he put his finger to his mouth after snaring the catch.
But the Hurricanes paceman was looking for a hole to hide him after being carted around the ground by Mitch Marsh late in the innings.
The Scorchers have lost the past two Twenty20 finals, but their formidable total has given them an excellent chance of breaking Western Australia’s 10-year title drought.