After falling just short in the BBL|10 final, Perth lock in four key players as they start preparations for next season
Scorchers re-sign star quartet ahead of BBL|11
The Perth Scorchers have received a resounding vote of confidence from four of their leading players just a week after falling short of a fourth KFC BBL title.
Ashton Turner, who captained the side this year, wicketkeeper-batsman Josh Inglis and pace aces Jason Behrendorff and Andrew Tye have all recommitted to the club in a boost for Adam Voges' side.
Inglis will be with Perth for the next three seasons, while Turner, Behrendorff and Tye have all signed on for two years.
It comes after the Scorchers, who were champions in BBL|03, BBL|04 and BBL|06, went down to the Sydney Sixers in this season's final.
"It's been an incredible tournament for the group this summer, and I'm extremely proud of their efforts and perseverance in turning our season around and overcoming adversity in a season like no other," Voges said.
"It's great to have Ashton, Andrew, Jason and Josh re-committing to the club. Each of them have played such a crucial role in the club's success over its history and we continued to see how influential they were during our recent BBL campaign.
"Ashton has shown great leadership over the summer as captain and all four players bring a wealth of experience to the group and are highly-valued members of the team."
Turner, Behrendorff and Tye are in New Zealand with Australia's T20 squad ahead of the start of the five-match series between the trans-Tasman rivals on February 22.
Turner is looking to cement his spot his spot in the national side's middle order. Despite not reaching 50 during the BBL, he played a valuable role for the power-packed Scorchers, hitting 228 runs at an impressive strike rate of 152.
He is also in contention to become the first Scorcher to reach 100 games next season, having already played 84 matches.
Behrendorff made a successful comeback to top-flight cricket in the BBL after undergoing radical spinal surgery, finishing with 16 wickets at 23.31 to go with an economy rate of 7.03.
The World Cup paceman played 16 of 17 matches and is a key member of one of the competition's most dangerous bowling line-ups.
Tye was Perth's second highest wicket-taker – behind the BBL's best Jhye Richardson – with 21 wickets at 20.61, including a haul of 4-20 against the Sixers during the regular season.
He is the club's highest wicket-taker of all-time with 93 victims and is the only bowler with two hat-tricks – both coming in 2017 – in BBL history.
Inglis, who has been touted as an Australia prospect, backed up his breakout BBL|09 in a different role.
Shifted to No.4 behind the international trio of Jason Roy, Liam Livingstone and Colin Munro for much of the tournament, Inglis hit 413 runs at 34.41 and a strike rate of 140 this season, highlighted by a rapid 72 not out from 41 deliveries against the Melbourne Renegades at Optus Stadium.
The quartet of contract extensions join another quartet of Scorchers who are already contracted for BBL|11, including off-spinning allrounder Ashton Agar, who missed the entire BBL|10 tournament with a calf injury, star allrounder Mitch Marsh, who signed a new four-year deal last month, impressive young seam-bowling allrounder Aaron Hardie, and rarely-used batsman Kurtis Patterson.
The Scorchers and Sixers are the most successful clubs in BBL history, both boasting three titles.
Perth Scorchers squad for BBL|11 (so far): Ashton Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Aaron Hardie, Josh Inglis, Mitch Marsh, Kurtis Patterson, Jhye Richardson, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye