The Perth Scorchers have finished 2024 in second position on the BBL ladder after cruising to a seven-wicket win over the Adelaide Strikers on New Year's Eve.
A record-breaking ninth-wicket stand between tailenders Brendan Doggett (47no) and Cameron Boyce (29no) spared the Strikers total humiliation in front of a bumper crowd of 41,624 at Adelaide Oval on Tuesday night, lifting them to 8-142.
But it wasn't enough to stop resurgent Finn Allen (50 off 23 balls), golden-bat leader Cooper Connolly (48no off 35 balls) and captain Ashton Turner (35no off 18 balls) from piloting the Scorchers to victory with 33 deliveries to spare.
The Perth reply, though, wasn't without drama.
Matt Hurst was dropped twice before being pouched for three, and the Scorchers should have been 3-13 when Connolly, on four, edged Doggett to wicketkeeper Ollie Pope but only the bowler offered a muted appeal.
Allen, who came into the match with 10 runs from four digs, was grassed on 11 by Alex Ross before earning the ire of fiery Adelaide import Jamie Overton.
The pair exchanged words before clashing again when Overton Mankaded Allen but didn't follow through with the appeal, instead animatedly warning the New Zealander for backing up too far.
After Doggett castled Allen, captain Ashton Turner came in and finished the job by crunching Cameron Boyce for 6-6-4.
Earlier, the Strikers crashed to 8-58 before Doggett - whose previous best Twenty20 score was 10no - and Boyce became unlikely batting allies.
Only D'Arcy Short (22) and Ross (20) - filling in as skipper for injured Matt Short, who suffered a fractured toe against the Hobart Hurricanes last Friday - reached double figures for Adelaide before Doggett and Boyce's resurrection job.
"Credit to them, they bowled well in the first 6-10 overs," D'Arcy Short said.
"It was nice for the boys to put on a bit of score for us to try to defend, but in the end it wasn't enough."
Pope (1) and Chris Lynn (1) went cheaply before Jake Weatherald (8) fell to a stunning one-handed catch by Andrew Tye, launching himself skyward at mid-off.
Jhye Richardson, recalled to the Australian squad for the recently completed Boxing Day Test against India, bolstered his hopes for selection in the upcoming Sydney match.
The paceman had Overton prodding a leading edge to Ashton Agar at backward point, then cleaned up Liam Scott with a superb yorker next ball.
"It (win) was nice," Richardson said.
"We would have liked to have kept them to an even lower score.
"Coming in to today, we know this is a high-scoring venue and (conceding) 140-odd, we would have taken every day."
The Strikers, who lost 6-18 in 30 balls, were rescued by Doggett and Boyce who combined for an unbroken 84-run union, the best-ever for the penultimate wicket.
Pace trio Richardson (3-29), Jason Behrendorff (2-14) and Lance Morris (2-19) were the chief destroyers with the ball for the visitors, whose only concern came when Agar left the field with back spasms, although the Scorchers don't believe he will miss any games.
"I would expect him to be back next game," Richardson said.
"It was a bit of an unfortunate spasm at the wrong time.
"I think he'll be fine."
