The Cricketer takes a look at the Scorchers squad ahead of WBBL08
Coach: Shelley Nitschke
Captain: Sophie Devine
Overseas: Sophie Devine (New Zealand), Maddy Green (New Zealand), Marizanne Kapp (South Africa)
Last season: Champions
How did they do last year?
After previously reaching the final in 2016/17 and 2017/18, Perth Scorchers finally lifted their maiden WBBL title last season.
Sophie Devine's side had a mixed start to their campaign, winning four of their first eight matches. However, they hit a purple patch in the latter stages of the competition, winning five matches from a possible six (one no result) to finish the regular season in first place before defeating Adelaide Strikers by 12 runs in the final.
The Scorchers only lost three times in 15 matches (although two games were taken into a Super Over), won every match when batting first, posted three of the top five highest team totals, and restricted their opponents to under 130 on six occasions.
Opener Beth Mooney topped the overall run-scoring charts, smashing 547 runs at a strike rate of 128.70, while Devine finished third (442 runs). Heather Graham picked up a team-leading 18 wickets.
Perth Scorchers are the defending champions [Getty Images]
Who are their key players?
If you had to pick two players to bat for your life, Mooney and Devine would be a pretty handy partnership. Mooney is the all-time leading run-scorer in the WBBL, with 3,674 runs at 47.10 and a strike rate of 122.71. Devine sits third with 3,076 at 39.94 (128.81 strike rate).
Both players are highly explosive and not afraid to crunch boundaries, with the formidable Devine favouring a monster six – she hit 14 in 2021/22 – and Mooney complementing her partner with fours. Not content with just one string to their respective bows, Mooney is also a fine wicketkeeper while Devine frequently turns to her own right-arm medium pace in the powerplay and pressure moments. In WBBL07, she picked up 10 wickets.
Marizanne Kapp is the star allrounder. A right-arm medium-fast bowler and fearsome middle-order batter, the South African is one of only three players (alongside Graham and Jess Jonassen) to score 1,000 runs and take 100 wickets in the WBBL. Last season, she scored 106 runs, took 12 wickets (over half of which came in the powerplay) and delivered a player of the match-winning performance in the final despite being bogged down by illness.
And of course, Alana King. 12 months ago, her name was largely unknown by anyone outside Australia; now she's a WBBL and World Cup winner, a Commonwealth champion and a three-format international. Oodles of variations – including her slider, her “biggest weapon” according to Ashleigh Gardner – and deceptive pace are her strengths.
What are their biggest strengths?
Perth Scorchers have X-factor quality in all of the right areas. At the top of the order, Mooney and Devine are unrivalled as the best opening duo in the WBBL – last season, they accounted three of
the top-five partnerships in the competition, all of which were century stands, while both players have scored 400-plus runs apiece for the past four editions of the competition. As mentioned, both players also add quality in other areas – Mooney behind the stumps (only Alyssa Healy has completed more dismissals prior to WBBL08) and Devine with the ball.
Kapp, devastating in the powerplay, spearheads the pace attack (with support from Devine and Taneale Peschel) and offers valuable middle-order firepower, while King uses her spin to control the middle overs and death. Since the beginning of WBBL07, the 26-year-old has taken 42 T20 wickets and conceded under a run-a-ball in all competitions except the Women's T20 Challenge in India (6.83).
Indeed, spin is a strong area for the Scorchers. 21-year-old Lilly Mills, an off-spin bowler to complement King's leggies, took a career-best 16 wickets in WBBL07 and showed her versatility with spells in both the powerplay and middle overs.
The Scorchers are the team to beat in WBBL08 [Getty Images]
Where might they have a weakness?
Heather Graham was the unsung hero in Perth Scorchers' 2021/22 campaign, scoring 197 runs at a strike rate of 110.05 and taking 18 wickets (6.38 economy) but rarely getting the headlines. She has, however, since departed the club for Hobart Hurricanes and leaves a huge gap in the squad.
New Zealand middle-order batter Maddy Green (2,715 T20 runs at 18.72) has been signed as a replacement while Chloe Piparo had a productive season in the top-order last year, scoring 216 runs at a strike rate of 107.46. However, with Chamari Athapaththu also departing, there is a 379-run hole to be filled in the batting order.
With the ball, Green's part-time right-arm off-spin doesn't really stack up against Graham's medium pace while Holly Ferling, recruited from Melbourne Renegades, has a fairly modest record of 43 wickets in 76 WBBL appearances and hasn't taken 10-plus wickets in a season since 2018/19. In short, letting Graham go could come back to haunt them.
Elsewhere, while their top five – Devine, Mooney, Piparo, Green, Kapp – is fine, a bit of additional batting depth lower down the order wouldn't go amiss to alleviate the reliance on the opening pair. The seam attack, meanwhile, is light on variety with every bowler bowling right-arm medium-fast.
Chances of reaching the latter stages?
They've retained a strong core of last year's champion squad and have only failed to reach the knockout stages once in seven years – both the form guide and the history books say Perth Scorchers will be in the last four. Can they defend their crown? Well, it's been done twice before (by Sydney Sixers and Brisbane Heat) and if their big guns are firing, who'd bet against Devine and co. and their insatiable will to win?
Strongest XI: Sophie Devine, Beth Mooney, Chloe Piparo, Maddy Green, Marizanne Kapp, Mathilda Carmichael, Alana King, Piepa Cleary, Lilly Mills, Holly Ferling, Taneale Peschel
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