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Heat happy to claim underdog status

Confidence levels are high in the Brisbane Heat camp, although star opener Beth Mooney knows the Sydney Sixers enter the WBBL decider as favourites

Brisbane Heat star Beth Mooney admits she was skeptical about her club’s list at the start of the summer, but the wicketkeeper-batter couldn’t be happier with how her teammates have performed to reach their first Rebel WBBL final.

The Heat entered the season as underdogs despite boasting three current Australian players in their ranks – Mooney alongside allrounders Jess Jonassen and Delissa Kimmince – and filled just two of the three slots they had available for overseas players.

Remarkably, they’ve barely had to call upon those internationals, South African batter Laura Wolvaardt and leg-spinner Sune Luus, with the former batting at eight throughout the season and the latter not earning a spot in the Heat’s semi-final XI.

Instead they’ve had a host of domestic players step up, with Grace Harris – who last played for Australia in late 2016 – finding a new level with the bat, while allrounder Sammy-Jo Johnson has been one of the competition’s best with both bat and ball.

Now they’re set to meet competition frontrunners and two-time title winners Sydney Sixers in Saturday’s final at Drummoyne Oval.

“I think the beauty of where we’re at as a group at the moment is we’ve been underdogs the whole way through the season,” Mooney said as her team prepared to fly to Sydney on Thursday.

“People have written us off early doors, I was a bit skeptical as well to be honest about the list we had, but to the group’s credit every individual player has come out of their shell and played with absolute freedom.

“It’s amazing to see the journey some of these girls have been on.

“Sammy-Jo, Haidee (Birkett), Jemma (Barsby) have all stood up when we’ve needed them to.

“The group’s in a good place and everyone has contributed which is good.”

Mooney's magnificent Cairns century

While this is the Heat’s first WBBL final, many members of their squad have been part of a successful T20 decider previously.

Queensland took out the 2013-14 domestic T20 title – the second last season before the Women’s Big Bash was introduced – and seven members of last Saturday’s semi-final XI, including Mooney, were part of that victory over the ACT.

“That was a very cool game to be a part of,” Mooney said. “Our core group been together for a long time and hopefully that will help us moving forward for the final.

“As someone who’s almost in their tenth year of playing for Queensland I’ve seen a lot of these girls grow and develop.

“To see Sammy-Jo batting at number three, Grace coming off the way she has, Jemma and Haidee providing match-winning performances for us, that’s been the difference.

“We still have one more job to do (in the final) but the beauty of being about this group for such a long time is seeing them all grow and becoming such good cricketers and good people as well.”

How Harris reached a dramatic century

The Heat and Sixers will meet in the first standalone WBBL final on Saturday at Drummoyne Oval, with the action kick off at 10.10am AEDT.

Tickets are now on sale, with adults $10, concession $5 and children free.

All proceeds from the ticket sales will go towards Dolly’s Dream, a charity supporting the fight against bullying.