Celebrating Strikers already eyeing up a WBBL 'three-peat'

When Megan Schutt and Tahlia McGrath were basking in the glow of their first WBBL title a little under 12 months ago, they turned to one another and said "let's go back-to-back".

In the aftermath of their epic three-run, final-ball win over the Brisbane Heat on Saturday night, McGrath had not yet had a chance to track down her Australian teammate for a debrief of the evening's events.

But safe to say there is no change to the agenda.

"Don't get me wrong, that's in the plans," McGrath said of a potential three-peat.

"(Last year), we were sitting in the changerooms and we'd just finished the song, (coach) Luke Williams had made a speech to the team and everyone was feeling pretty good about themselves.

"And we're like, 'this is pretty cool, let's do it again'. No team's done a three-peat yet, so it'd be pretty cool to do that."

The Strikers' second-straight victory was just reward for a dominant season that saw them win 11 regular season matches and finish six points clear on top of the table.

When McGrath raised the trophy at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night, they had won 11 of their past 10 games.

That is the sort of form McGrath is accustomed to seeing in Australian colours but is a remarkable show of strength in a domestic tournament as competitive as the WBBL.

"We've had a phenomenal season," McGrath said. "We've been able to play some really consistent cricket.

"We know our plans inside-out and we play our role to perfection … so to top it off like that tonight was perfect."

The Strikers boast the tournament's strongest bowling attack and McGrath said it was a fitting result that they pulled out one of their best displays to defend what seemed a below par 5-125 in the final.

"It doesn't get much closer than that," McGrath said of the three-run margin.

"Below par at the innings break, but it was a tricky wicket and if anyone's going to defend a score like that it's us.

"So we had to hang tight, we had to believe and I'm super proud of the team and the bowlers."

Heat captain Jess Jonassen, meanwhile, said it would take time to process the narrow defeat.

Brisbane had started the season as one of the favourites and won their first four games.

They veered off course towards the back end of the regular season to finish third on the table before winning the Eliminator and Challenger on consecutive days to reach the final.

"I'm gutted, it's quite challenging having to front up right after a result like that, when you're so disappointed as a leader and as a group," Jonassen said.

"I look back to so many different moments and so many things that I could have potentially done differently that could have swayed the result – but I know that's not the reality of it, that it's a whole team game and there were so many different factors at different times.

"Credit to the Strikers, they had to come out and bowl out of their skin and we probably lost our way a little bit with the bat through the middle there where we struggled to find the boundary or get off strike.

"We thought we did a really good job, kept them below par (but) it just wasn't meant to be.

"There were a few moments, Melie Kerr absolutely moosed one down the ground and Wello just dived on it,

"Mikayla Hinkley, if her second shot went for two more meters that's a Heat victory. T20 cricket is a game of margins and unfortunately it's not meant to be tonight."

WBBL Finals

The Eliminator: Brisbane Heat beat Sydney Thunder by 44 runs

The Challenger: Brisbane Heat beat Perth Scorchers by 67 runs

The Final: Adelaide Strikers beat Brisbane Heat by three runs