Home turf final hands Brown a chance for biggest prize

Darcie Brown is hoping to pocket a more enduring keepsake from next Saturday's Weber WBBL Final at Adelaide Oval than she managed to secure from her first outing on the revered turf.

Brown was named player of the match after dismantling Perth Scorchers' vaunted top-order and finishing with 3-18 in front of a record regular-round crowd to send Adelaide Strikers into their second consecutive trophy decider, and the first on their home patch.

The 20-year-old speedster, who had missed much of the Strikers' title defence due to injury management after suffering a hamstring strain playing for Australia, admits the prospect of playing a grand final in front of even more fans next weekend is "the stuff of dreams".

But crowning that anticipation is the chance to perform at a venue she recalls visiting as a child when she became so besotted by being able to set foot on the pristine outfield she secretively plucked a handful of grass to take back to her family's home at Kapunda, 80km north of Adelaide Oval.

"I remember being here, and I took a piece of grass and put it in my pocket to try and grow at home because I didn't think I'd ever be back," Brown said in the aftermath of Adelaide's five-wicket win that ensured they finished atop the ladder for WBBL|09.

"I used to be a huge fan of the Strikers.

"I was the little kid who wanted all the autographs, used to hang around after the game had finished and make mum and dad wait for our big drive home to Kapunda so we wouldn't get home until midnight.

"So to be out here is so special.

"I'm so looking forward to (Saturday's final), it should be amazing."

The winner's medallion she's looking to earn, having won her first in last summer's triumph over Sydney Sixers at North Sydney Oval, will be guaranteed a longer shelf life than her earlier fistful of memorabilia, and another she purloined from Lord's after a T20 against England earlier this year.

"Sadly, the Adelaide Oval one I forgot about and left it in my pocket, and it went through the washing machine," Brown laughed.

"And there might have been another one from Lord's, but that probably didn't make it through biosecurity at customs."

What can't be cleansed or confiscated from an increasingly impressive career record is the title of second-youngest bowler to reach 50 WBBL wickets (behind Sydney Thunder's Hannah Darlington who claimed the benchmark aged 19), and equal fifth-fastest in terms of innings in which she's bowled.

Perhaps even more remarkable given her tender age and raw speed is the level of control that has seen her record a dot-ball percentage of 53.8 per cent across her 45 appearances for the Strikers, which ranks alongside the most miserly of any bowler in the competition's history.

Former England seamer Katherine Sciver-Brunt remains the yardstick (minimum 20 overs bowled) with a WBBL dot-ball ratio of 55.9 per cent, ahead of Julie Hunter's 54.9.

It was that combination of potency and parsimony that paved the way for Adelaide's fourth consecutive win over their western rivals, as Brown removed the competition's leading run-scorer Beth Mooney (1) and then Chloe Piparo (1) in her opening over as the Scorchers crashed to 4-15.

She then returned for a second spell as Perth mounted a fightback through captain Sophie Devine and England international Nat Sciver-Brunt, and had the latter slicing a catch to backward point to ensure Adelaide remained on top.

"It takes a little bit to get back into it and I was a bit sore after the first game the other day," Brown said having missed the first 11 games of the Strikers campaign.

"It's great to be out there with the girls, and every time I play I feel a bit more into it.

"The fact I actually know what I'm doing again, because at the start I was a bit nervous ... I felt like I'd forgotten how to play cricket."

Her memory was surely jogged by the 4,863 (mostly Strikers) fans at Adelaide Oval last night, the biggest turnout for a standalone (not a double-header with men's BBL) non-finals WBBL game with the defending champions eyeing another record when final tickets go on sale at noon on Monday.

Having found her fluency and rekindled her understanding after a lengthy injury lay-off, Brown is keen to play in the Strikers final game before next Saturday's decider when they tackle Hobart Hurricanes at the SCG tomorrow.

While the Hurricanes can notionally sneak into fourth place with an obliteration of the Strikers and a win by the Sixers over current fourth-placed Sydney Thunder, it's the home-town derby at the SCG that carries keenest interest for the Scorchers.

Pace-setter for much of WBBL|09, Perth have stumbled near the finish line with three consecutive losses and risk losing the right to host the Challenger Final next Wednesday should the Thunder defeat the Sixers and vault into second place.

Sciver-Brunt confirmed the Scorchers, who will remain in Adelaide until results in the other Stadium Series matches are known and finals locations locked in, will be barracking for the Sixers just as they were for Brisbane Heat in their 22-run win in the preceding game at Adelaide Oval yesterday.

"I don't think it's time for any crisis meetings yet," Sciver-Brunt said.

"The team, before I got here and since I've been here as well, they've been really consistent in how they've gone about things.

"So just stick to what we're doing and believe that we can beat any team on the day."

The allrounder, who along with fellow England representative Amy Jones will miss the Final should Scorchers reach it due to their international obligations in India, said her team took solace from putting a scare through the Strikers' camp in their chase of a below-par 104.

After cruising to 1-50 in the seventh over, the loss of skipper Tahlia McGrath saw the Strikers surrender 4-18 in the space of three overs before Maddie Penna (31no off 23 balls) and Amanda-Jade Wellington (10no off 12) carried them home with more than five overs to spare.

The loss of Jones to a calf injury pre-game plus the return of regular opener Lauren Winfield-Hill from a quad strain saw a reshuffle in the Scorchers' batting line-up, with skipper Devine dropping herself down to number six in a bid to deepen their batting stocks as early wickets crashed.

"That was part of the plan that she wasn't going to open, she was listed at five but as it panned out lengthening the batting line-up was a good thing," Sciver-Brunt said.

"You don't expect to win many games from (4-15), but I thought when me and Soph were batting together we had a chance to put on a defendable total but it wasn't meant to be with the bat.

"We had to do something to change the length or manipulate the ball in a different area, so the (Strikers' bowlers) put the onus back on us which we found pretty tough.

"Then when you're going out to defend a low total, it's a hard balance of wanting to take wickets but wanting to take the game as deep as you can as well.

"We had that belief that if we went out there and we could take a few wickets at the top of the innings, their batters at the top have really scored a bulk of their runs this season.

"We knew that if we could expose a few of those middle-order players we had a chance, and then we got on a roll with the wickets and the energy was up.

"But it fizzled out a little bit towards the end."

Weber WBBL|09 Standings

Team	Matches played M	Wins W	Losses L	Ties T	No results N/R	Net Run Rate NRR	Deductions Ded.	Total points PTS
1 Adelaide Strikers Women STR	14	11	3	0	0	1.154	0	22
2 Perth Scorchers Women SCO	14	8	6	0	0	0.784	0	16
3 Brisbane Heat Women HEA	14	8	6	0	0	0.203	0	16
4 Sydney Thunder Women THU	14	7	6	0	1	0.298	0	15
5 Sydney Sixers Women SIX	14	7	7	0	0	-0.253	0	14
6 Hobart Hurricanes Women HUR	14	6	7	0	1	-0.597	0	13
7 Melbourne Stars Women STA	14	6	8	0	0	-0.779	0	12
8 Melbourne Renegades Women REN	14	2	12	0	0	-0.978	0	4

Legend

M: Matches played

W: Wins

L: Losses

T: Ties

N/R: No results

NRR: Net Run Rate

Ded.: Deductions

PTS: Total points