Perth Scorchers
The Perth Scorchers are an Australian men's professional Twenty20 franchise cricket team that competes in the Australian domestic Big Bash League competition. The Scorchers wear an orange uniform and are based in Perth in the Australian state of Western Australia. Their home ground since 2018 is Perth Stadium, having previously been a tenant of the WACA Ground, they are the defending champions having won BBL|15.
The Scorchers are the most successful team in BBL history, winning a record six titles to date and being runners-up on three occasions. After losing to the Sydney Sixers and Brisbane Heat in BBL|01 and BBL|02 respectively, they won the next two consecutive titles, becoming the first team to achieve the feat in the league's early history. These wins came against the Hobart Hurricanes, and the Sydney Sixers in a last-ball thriller at Canberra's Manuka Oval. The Scorchers are also the most successful T20 franchise cricket team globally.
History
2011–2012: BBL01 season
The majority of the initial Scorchers squad was recruited from the Western Australia cricket team, with the addition of West Australian Simon Katich and international imports South Africa's Herschelle Gibbs and England's Paul Collingwood. Brad Hogg was recruited despite having not played state or international cricket since the 2007–08 season.The Scorchers started the 2011–12 Big Bash League season poorly, losing to the Hobart Hurricanes in their opening game at the WACA Ground by 31 runs. However, they subsequently won 5 games in a row, finishing the season at the top of the ladder and securing a home final. The Scorchers then won the semi-final against the Melbourne Stars by 11 runs but lost to the Sydney Sixers in the final by 7 wickets.
2012 Champions League
By finishing in the top two of the Big Bash League, they won a position at the 2012 Champions League Twenty20 tournament, held in South Africa in October 2012. The team performed poorly, only winning one game. The Marsh brothers, Shaun and Mitchell were both dropped from the final game after excessively celebrating Mitchell's 21st birthday during the tournament.2012–2013: BBL02 season
For the 2012–13 season, Collingwood did not return, and when their first choice overseas player Albie Morkel was unavailable, new coach Justin Langer recruited South African all-rounder Alfonso Thomas, who he had previously played with at Somerset. Other squad changes included the return of Adam Voges and the departure of Nathan Rimmington and Luke Ronchi. Tasmanian Tom Triffitt was recruited as the wicket keeper. Pat Cummins was recruited from the 2011–12 winning Sydney Sixers, but was injured whilst playing for the Sixers at the 2012 Champions League Twenty20 and did not play for the Scorchers.The Scorchers again started the season poorly, losing to the Melbourne Stars in their second match when they scored an Australian record low team total of 69 runs. However, as they did in the previous season, they recovered and won five of the next six games in a row, finishing in second position and securing a home final against the Melbourne Stars. In a rain-affected semi-final, the Scorchers won by 8 wickets off the final ball of the innings. They hosted the grand final against the Brisbane Heat but were defeated by 34 runs.
2013 Champions League
The Scorchers again qualified for the 2013 Champions League Twenty20 tournament, but with a squad depleted by injury and a lack of player availability, again performed poorly, losing all three of their matches to finish bottom of their group.2013–2014: BBL03 season
For their third BBL season, the Scorchers retained the services of senior players Simon Katich, Brad Hogg, Adam Voges, Shaun Marsh and Mitchell Marsh, but lost Michael Hussey and Marcus North to the two Sydney-based teams. South African Alfonso Thomas returned as an international player, but new signing Dwayne Smith from the West Indies did not travel to Perth for personal reasons. He was replaced in the team by Yasir Arafat from Pakistan.The Scorchers finished third with five wins from eight games and defeated the Sydney Sixers in their semi-final at the Sydney Cricket Ground to advance final. The fourth-placed Hobart Hurricanes defeated the Melbourne Stars in the other semi-final, affording the Scorches the hosting rights for their third consecutive final. The Scorchers finally won their first BBL title, and brought silverware to Western Australian cricket for the first time in over a decade.
Final
2014–2015: BBL04 season
Adam Voges was elected to captain the side after the retirement of Simon Katich, while Englishman Michael Carberry signed on for the season as an international recruit, and also regained the services of Yasir Arafat. For the fourth straight year, the Scorchers made it to the final of the Big Bash League, after finishing in 2nd place and defeating the Melbourne Stars in the semi-final for the third time. However, the final was not played the WACA Ground and was instead played at Manuka Oval due to World Cup and tri-series constraints, despite Perth technically earning a Home final after finishing ahead of their finals opponents the Sydney Sixers. The rematch of the BBL01 final came down to the last ball, with the Scorchers needing a run to win. After a brilliant last over from Brett Lee in his final cricket game which included 2 wickets, a fumbled run-out on the last ball handed the Scorchers their second title.Final
2015–2016: BBL05 season
Adam Voges retained his role as captain, while Michael Carberry and David Willey become the two international players. On 30 December 2015 the Scorchers completed the first ever 10-wicket win in BBL history against Melbourne Renegades. They maintained their record of qualifying for every Big Bash finals series, but lost to the Melbourne Stars in the semi-final, making this season the only one in which the Scorchers failed to qualify for the final, and ending their hopes of a third successive trophy.2016–2017: BBL06 season
Mitchell Johnson, having retired from international cricket, joined the Scorchers. Crowd favourite Brad Hogg left the Scorchers to join the Melbourne Renegades. In the semi-final, Johnson took three wickets for three runs from his four overs, a BBL record low runs conceded, and the third best in all Twenty20 history.He was economical again in the final, conceding only 13 runs as Perth won their third BBL trophy, against the Sydney Sixers.
Final
2017–2018: BBL07 season
The Scorchers unveiled an updated logo ready for the upcoming seventh Big Bash season. Unusually, they decided to only recruit a single overseas player, David Willey who would return for his third season. Mitchell Marsh took over the captaincy from Michael Klinger.The Scorchers finished atop the table with eight wins in their ten matches and welcomed the Hobart Hurricanes to Perth Stadium for the semifinal. Winning the toss and electing to field first, a depleted Scorchers bowling unit had no answers for the bats of Matthew Wade and Ben McDermott, surrendering 210 runs in the innings. The bats never got going as the Scorchers could only answer with 139 runs before their tenth wicket fell in the 18th over.