Perth seek way to flip the script on familiar foe

Perth Scorchers captain Ashton Turner wants to win Saturday night's KFC BBL final for Adam Voges, identifying the coach's level-headedness as the key to their surge from cellar-dwellers to potential champions.

After what has comfortably been the most unusual KFC BBL season in its 10-year history, the competition's two most successful sides have returned it to a state of, if not normality, then at least familiarity.

The Scorchers (three-time champions) and Sydney Sixers (twice), the only two clubs to have won multiple titles, will meet in the final for the fourth time on Saturday in the SCG's first BBL game of the season.

But while it now feels inevitable that it is those two sides to have made the decider, five weeks ago the Scorchers appeared destined to go a third consecutive summer without making the finals.

Voges' men were stuck on the bottom of the ladder after going winless through their first four games, even prompting suggestions the coach's job was on the line.

"From the outside there was some pressure on the team, Vogesy in particular, which I feel wasn't warranted," said Turner.

"To be able to reflect – four games in, not playing well, not having won any games – to be able to sit in that change room, there wasn't much panic at all.

"It would have been easy to forgive guys for starting to push the panic button and worry about what the rest of the season looks like. We knew we were too good a team to keep losing.

"Thankfully, for our coach's sake, we've been able to take some of the heat off him. He's been so level-headed throughout a long tournament, we feel as players we've been able to pay him respect by winning games.

"Hopefully we can give him the trophy tomorrow night."

A victory over the Strikers on New Year's Eve in Adelaide followed by four consecutive wins at their home fortress at Optus Stadium turbo-charged the Scorchers' season, with their only major hiccup since then being their Qualifier final defeat to the Sixers last week.

Perth then defeated the Brisbane Heat on Thursday in Canberra to set-up a rematch with the men in magenta.

Jason Roy, who has formed a devastating top three along with fellow internationals Liam Livingstone and Colin Munro, will undergo a fitness test on Saturday before the game having suffered an ankle injury that sidelined him against the Heat.

His replacement Cameron Bancroft stepped up along Livingstone with a match-winning 114-run opening stand, prompting the latter to suggest (tongue-in-cheek) that the reigning BBL champions and minor premiers may now be "running scared".

"I'm not sure where we're running to," Sixers captain Moises Henriques replied on Friday. "It's an interesting comment, I'm sure if he was trying to get a rise.

"He actually played really well. So it will be up to him to try to do that again against us.

"Part of the reason we controlled that game against the Scorchers in that first (final last week) is how well we controlled their opening batters in those opening overs and then they were forced to do things they didn't want do after that."

Words aside, the scene is set for an intriguing final, presuming the forecast rain stays away.

Player of the tournament Josh Philippe looms large; the predominantly Western Australian Scorchers side know Perth-born Philippe better than most, yet the Sixers keeper-batter has been their bogey man.

Philippe averages 61.50 in seven games against the Scorchers since leaving the club after playing a solitary game for them in BBL07 and has scored 82 (off 52 balls) and 45 (off 28) in their past two contests in recent weeks.

Turner suggested they will be going in with a new approach to the right-hander.

"It's pretty easy to sit back and say we should throw out all our plans to Josh in the last couple of games," Turner said. "They haven't worked that well for us, he's been playing beautifully.

"Josh Philippe has no doubt created some headaches for us in the past but we'll reflect on the times he played well against us and think about what we can do differently.

"I've got no doubt you might see some strategies that might be a little different to how we've bowled to Josh in the past … we're really confident in our bowlers, especially in big games."

Turner added the flip side to the Sixers' top-order's recent success against them – Philippe's opening partner James Vince blew them away last week with an unbeaten 98 – is that their middle order has not faced much of their world-class bowling attack.

Jhye Richardson, Jason Behnredorff and Andrew Tye have all earnt recalls to Australia's T20 squad on the back of their strong BBL10 seasons.

But Henriques stressed the Sixers' batting strength this season has largely been built on the stellar seasons of middle-order pair Dan Christian and Jordan Silk.

"It almost gives us a second crack at a game," Henriques said of the pair. "At times we have felt like in the past that we weren't sure if we had enough power.

"Having those guys there …  we know Jordan can fix it and Dan can accelerate it.

"Having those two guys in the middle there gives the top four so much freedom to play the best they can do, and not worry too much because they know we've got the people in the sheds after it.

"It's another little dynamic (helping) us finish where we have this year."

BBL|10 Finals Series
(all matches will screen on Channel 7, Fox Cricket & Kayo)

The Eliminator: Brisbane Heat (4) beat Adelaide Strikers (5) by six wickets

The Qualifier: Sydney Sixers (1) beat Perth Scorchers (2) by nine wickets

The Knock-Out: Brisbane Heat (4) beat Sydney Thunder (3) by seven wickets

The Challenger: Perth Scorchers (2) beat Brisbane Heat (4) by 49 runs (DLS)

The Final: Sydney Sixers v Perth Scorchers. Sat Feb 6, SCG, 7.40pm AEDT