By Justin Chadwick
Brisbane Heat captain Jimmy Peirson has promised that his team will come back bigger and better next season following their BBL final heartbreak.
The Heat’s hopes of breaking their decade-long title drought were brought to an end on Saturday night when they suffered a five-wicket loss to the Perth Scorchers in front of 53,886 fans at Optus Stadium.
Heat skipper Jimmy Peirson, right, with James Bazley during the Big Bash League final defeate against the Perth Scorchers on Saturday. Credit:Paul Kane/Getty Images
Brisbane were in the box seat to claim victory after running out Scorchers captain Ashton Turner for 53 and leaving the home side requiring 39 runs from the last 19 balls.
But 19-year-old rookie Cooper Connolly (25 not out off 11 balls) and full-time accountant Nick Hobson (18 not out off seven balls) pulled off some clutch late boundaries to get the hosts over the line with four balls to spare.
Josh Brown of the Heat reacts after dropping a catch off Cooper Connolly.Credit:Getty
Just making the final was a huge achievement for the Heat, who were sitting last on the table 22 days ago.
The re-introduction of their Test stars – Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne and Matt Renshaw – helped spark the Heat, who won three away finals to make the decider.
Peirson said he was “immensely proud” of his players, and he feels like his team are on the verge of creating something special.
“The group isn’t full of household names like other teams,” he said.
“My vision for this team is making the most of our parts and I think we are starting to do that.
“We have the right personnel. Throw our Test guys into the mix and overseas players we had – we are building towards something.
“This season has given us tremendous confidence in what we can do. We’ll come back bigger and better next year.”
Nick Hobson hits the winning runs for the of the Scorchers in BBL final at Optus Stadium, Perth, on Saturday.Credit:Paul Kane/Getty Images
The Scorchers have now won five titles – including the past two.
Their method of building their squad around their State-contracted players has worked a charm.
It’s a tactic the Heat are following.
“We’re adopting a similar template,” Peirson said.
“They’ve kept their state players; a core of players they have had for years and we look at our squad now and they are mostly Queensland state representatives.
“The beauty of that is you’re training together all year around and you’re having those conversations, rather than (having) six or seven from interstate and the overseas guys.”
