The league's most successful player joined The Surge, Big Bash Podcast in the aftermath of the BBL|15 Final
Captain’s call: Turner reflects on historic BBL triumph
When it comes to the Big Bash, there's no doubt Ashton Turner's Perth Scorchers are the best in the business.
Last month, the 33-year-old West Australian became the first player to captain a BBL side to three titles (BBL|11, BBL|12, BBL|15).
Having also been a part of the club's BBL|04 and BBL|06 campaigns, Turner now holds the record for the most BBL titles (5) won by a player in the competition's history.
Speaking to The Surge, Big Bash Podcast, Turner looked back on a historic campaign for the Perth Scorchers, discussing the moments that mattered on his way to lifting yet another Big Bash trophy.
Ashton Turner, you've done it again! How does it feel to win another BBL title?
"It's certainly a really satisfying feeling," said Turner to The Surge, Big Bash Podcast.
"A lot of hard work has gone into preparing for this Big Bash campaign.
"Being able to execute throughout the six weeks of the tournament, and to culminate all of that effort with a trophy is a really satisfying feeling."
Where do you rank this title compared to the other four you've won?
"Each have their own individual characteristics and reasons why they felt really special to me individually," said Turner.
"As a young player, a lot of the time you're worried about cementing your spot in the team… I felt like that.
"It's difficult to go past BBL|11, when we played the first game in Perth, and then we were locked out of the state for the rest of the campaign, and we were able to do it away from home.
"BBL|12, it felt like with about four overs to go we probably let it slip. To be able to then claw that, in front of an amazing home crowd, was a really nice feeling.
"This year, it felt like we've had a really solid team. Minus a couple of hiccups… it felt like we were always headed in the right direction.
"We have really high expectations of ourselves as a group and to be able to live up to those expectations is satisfying for its own reasons."
You put a lot of faith into young bowlers, but you still found a way to win. How did you make it work?
"That's been one of the great balancing acts for us," said Turner.
"We've had some stalwarts of Western Australian cricket, particularly in our bowling ranks (leave). How were we going to future proof this team?
"We knew that there was inevitably going to come a time when we needed to move on and have a look at some younger players.
"We've seen in domestic cricket, Mahli (Beardman) has been given some opportunity. We know how good a cricketer he is at the moment and is going to continue to become in the future.
"I think the one that really surpassed my expectations was Cooper Connolly.
"To lose Ashton Agar at the midway point of the tournament, and for Cooper to take on the mantle as the number one spinner, and to be our leading wicket-taker throughout the tournament, he added a lot of flexibility.
"Also, Aaron Hardie as a top six batter, to get through four overs… I think that allows the rest of our bowling attack to be aggressive when they bowl."
Cooper Connolly seems like a very special person as well as a special young cricketer. Talk to us about his season.
"As is the modern game, we're seeing a lot of kids who are coming through junior cricket and entering professional cricket who have all aspects of the game covered, and Cooper's the same," said Turner.
"He bats, he bowls, he's a gun in the field, and he sits in on our leadership meetings.
"He's got a lot of leadership potential. He's going to be someone who captains professional cricket teams in the future.
"When you've got four strings to your bow like that, law of averages would suggest that one of those departments is going to be going really well."
How special was it to see what Finn Allen did for your team this summer?
"I remember Josh Inglis was with him in America a couple years ago, and he called me and said, 'what are your thoughts (on Finn)?’," said Turner.
"We knew that the rules had changed, allowing us to pre-sign one player on a multi-year deal, and I think probably within 24 hours, we had him locked away.
"We knew that he was going to add a lot of value to our batting. I think that we've had a lot of success at the Perth Scorchers over a long period of time, but it was probably on the back of some pretty conservative batting, and that was what worked for us in the early editions of the Big Bash.
"We also knew that the competition and the game was evolving, and we needed to evolve with it, and that meant that we needed to restructure our batting and change our batting philosophy.
"We also saw him personally, had a reasonably challenging campaign last year, but it's for him to go away, develop his game, come back a much improved player… he's added a lot of value... we're learning off him as a player.
"He's eager to learn. He's a humble, modest guy. He's always looking to improve. He works hard, hits lots of balls behind the scenes, and we're hopeful that he's going to be a big part of our future as well."
How important was David Payne in the second half of the tournament?
"Payney (David Payne) gives us real flexibility, because he's got a unique skill," said Turner.
"He can bowl a bouncer that can rush a lot of batters, but then we're seeing him bowl a really high percentage of off pace deliveries, which is causing a lot of players in this competition and around the world a lot of difficulties.
"I mean, his contribution to our group this year can't be underestimated.
"We unfortunately lost Joel Paris, and that's about the time that Payney jumped off the plane having won a trophy in the ILT20 competition. You know, he was in good form, and it was a seamless transition from Joel to Payney.
"To be honest, when the Strikers picked him up a couple of years ago, we were filthy, because we knew the value that he could add to our team.
"We wanted him back… we knew there was a point in the future that we could take him back."
The Australian T20 captain, Mitch Marsh, was back with your side for a full BBL season. Tell us about how he and Adam Voges (Perth Scorchers coach) helped you this summer.
"Whilst I'm the captain, I think it wouldn't be an (understatement) to say that Mitch (Marsh) has been the leader of this team from before the start of the tournament," said Turner.
"It'd be pretty easy for him to come back to domestic cricket and go through the motions, maybe take a few shortcuts, and not be invested 100%, but the opposite couldn't be closer to the truth.
"He took us out over to Rottnest Island on his boat early in the tournament. He's led the energy. He sits in all of our planning meetings.
"He often stands at cover while I'm standing at mid-off. He's a sounding board for me, and no doubt, his batting towards the back end of the tournament was a big part of the reason that we've been able to walk away with a trophy.
"The next layer, which is our coaching staff, that's led by Adam Voges.
"We make no secret of the fact that we feel like we're the best planned and the best prepared team in the competition."
Did you think that it might not have been your year at any point?
"I have really high expectations of this group, and anything less than a trophy, I would have been disappointed with," said Turner.
"I sort of thought, if we can just somehow get to 4-4 with a couple of games to go, we'd feel like we'll have a really good playing XI. By that point, we'll be okay.
"As it turned out, we actually played better cricket than that, and (we) found ourselves with the right to host a home final.
"To be honest, we played some really nice cricket across the BBL finals, and a lot of the stress was taken out of the big moments in big games.
"I did think that there was a moment we have to do it differently, but I had a lot of confidence in our group that we were going to be able to manage the challenges that got thrown at us.
"In some ways it was nice to have a bit of a reality check early on in the tournament and be able to learn from that. I knew that we were going to be hard to stop."
Perth Scorchers' titles: BBL|03, BBL|04, BBL|06, BBL|11, BBL|12, BBL|15