PERTH: Teenager Cooper Connolly´s big hitting at the death and skipper Ashton Turner´s heroic 53 saw Perth Scorchers beat Brisbane Heat to win an unprecedented fifth Twenty20 Big Bash League title on Saturday.
Their fireworks propelled them to 178-5 and a nail-biting five-wicket win with four balls left in front of a record 53,886 parochial fans at Perth Stadium after Brisbane put on 175-7.
It was a successful title defence by a side who beat the Sydney Sixers in last season´s decider, with Saturday´s win securing a fifth trophy in only the competition´s 12th year.
"It´s a surreal feeling. I´ve played a lot of games of cricket but you never know how it will pan out," said man-of-the-match Turner after his 32-ball knock.
"We are in rarified air at the moment, we have a lot of guys in form and that´s not always the case. A lot of guys have contributed to wins throughout the season."
A victory looked highly unlikely when Turner was run out after a horror mix-up with Nick Hobson, leaving them needing 39 needed off 19 balls.
But young gun Connolly smashed 25 off 11 balls to turn the game on its head.
He crunched 18 of those from a James Bazley over to leave them needing 20 off the final 12 balls.