Dominant Heat claim back-to-back WBBL titles

The match in a tweet: BACK-TO-BACK! Mooney stars with the bat as the Heat take out the WBBL|05 title in front of a sell-out Brisbane crowd 

The result: Adelaide Strikers 7-161 (Wellington 55, McGrath 33; Prestwidge 2-24) lost to Brisbane Heat 4-162 (Mooney 56no, Jonassen 33; McGrath 2-34) by six wickets with 11 balls remaining at Allan Border Field, Brisbane 

The hero: Beth Mooney loves the big stage. Player of the match in last year’s final, she went back-to-back with a brilliant 56 from 45 deliveries. After a rare failure in the semi-final, the left-hander refused to miss out twice as she brought up her ninth half-century of the tournament from 36 deliveries, sharing in a key 67-run third-wicket stand with Jess Jonassen. Cool and calm as ever under pressure, while Mooney was at the crease the ledger always seemed in the Heat’s favour.

Mooney finished the tournament with 743 runs to her name, the third most ever in a single WBBL season behind Ellyse Perry’s 777 in WBBL|04, and the 769 Sophie Devine struck this tournament.

The winning runs: In another case of déjà vu, Laura Harris hit the winning runs for the Heat… for the second year running! 

The moment: Devine, Player of the Tournament, was dismissed for just five runs, seven deliveries into the match. In a surprise move, Georgia Prestwidge (2-24) took the new ball and it paid off: she produced a short, wide delivery that caught the outside edge of Devine’s bat, skiing straight to Maddy Green at deep third man. 

The over: New balls please! Devine hit a record 29 sixes in WBBL|05, but she found herself on the receiving end when Sammy-Jo Johnson smacked four sixes from five balls in the fifth over of the Heat chase. The first landed on the roof of Queensland Cricket and was unable to be retrieved and when a new ball was fetched, it was promptly dispatched to the same spot. Johnson went even bigger the next delivery as the QC roof copped more punishment, before her fourth maximum went flying towards the Stuart Law stand. But Devine had the last laugh when Johnson spooned a simple return catch from the final ball of the over, gone for an 11-ball 27.

The support cast: The Heat’s deep batting line-up has been a strength all season and that no different in the final. Johnson’s cameo of 27 from 11 pulled the required rate down early, Jess Jonassen (33 from 28) was the perfect foil for Mooney, allowing the opener to bat without major risk, before Laura Harris (19 from 11) arrived to help seal victory.

With the ball, Prestwidge (2-24) picked up the wickets of Devine and Bridget Patterson while Amelia Kerr (1-22) was economical in her four-over spell while taking the key scalp of Strikers captain Suzie Bates.

The consolation effort: Amanda-Jade Wellington’s explosive lower-order rearguard helped the Strikers to 7-161 after they had looked in danger of posting a total well below par. Wellington, better known for her leg-spin abilities, struck a creative 55 from 33 deliveries after coming to the crease at No.6 with her team 4-79 in the 11th over.

She found the boundary 10 times, carting five fours off the bowling of Australia seamer Delissa Kimmince, and three in a row from another international in Jonassen, pulling out her reverse sweep to frustrate the Heat late in the innings. In partnership with Tegan McPharlin (18), she helped the Strikers add 56 runs from the final five overs. It was a brilliant recovery after the Strikers had lost set pair Bates (27) and Tahlia McGrath (33), before Katie Mack (6) and Patterson (12) fell cheaply.

The drop: Wellington was the hero for the Strikers with the bat, but she dropped a sitter to give Jonassen a life on 18 after the Heat allrounder top-edged a Devine delivery that should have been a simple chance. 

The record remains: When Devine was dismissed for five, it ensured Ellyse Perry’s record for most runs in a WBBL season would remain intact. Devine finished her outstanding season with 769 runs, eight shy of the 777 Perry scored in WBBL|04.

The sell out: For the second consecutive season, the WBBL final was a sell out! The gates at Allan Border Field were shut at 1pm local time after the last remaining tickets for the decider were snapped up prior to the start of play.

Brisbane Heat XI: Beth Mooney (wk), Maddy Green, Jess Jonassen, Grace Harris, Laura Harris, Kirby Short (c), Amelia Kerr, Delissa Kimmince, Sammy-Jo Johnson, Mikayla Hinkley, Georgia Prestwidge

Adelaide Strikers XI: Suzie Bates (c), Sophie Devine, Tahlia McGrath, Bridget Patterson, Katie Mack, Amanda-Jade Wellington, Tegan McPharlin (wk), Annie O'Neil, Sarah Coyte, Megan Schutt, Alex Price