Jackson Barrett: Just 31 balls into the Big Bash League, this is the moment Perth Scorchers set up the title

Aaron Hardie hits Steve Smith on the pads. Ashton Turner reviews. It looks high. Then come three red lights. Smith, out for 24. It was a roar up there with the one that soundtracked Cooper Connolly’s heroics three years ago and it burst the Sydney Sixers’ balloon. It came just 31 balls into Perth Scorchers’ sixth Big Bash League title victory on Sunday evening and while they will never admit it, the champions were skiing downhill from that point. The Scorchers endured an uncharacteristically sloppy afternoon in the field, but their bowling was of the highest order. By the time Finn Allen took down Mitchell Starc in the fourth over of the run-chase, the Scorchers were floating on thin air. Starc’s second over went for 19 runs. Allen ramped him into the second tier of the Justin Langer Stand and a catching chance landed in front of Jack Edwards on the half-volley. The Scorchers tamed the two men who had returned from the Ashes to blast the Sixers into the final. Sydney batted deep, with Starc at No.11, but they were exposed by a lack of genuine match-winners outside of Smith. The lethargy they slipped into after his dismissal was no platform for a competitive score. One team had its big players there when they needed them and the other didn’t. That’s not the final, that’s when they won their final three matches to claim top spot and avoid travelling at all in the finals. It can be traced back to the two teams constructing their list. The Sixers brought in glamour signing Babar Azam, who sold some tickets, but endured a horror run with the bat. On the cusp of being dropped after a duck in Perth on Tuesday, he was mysteriously pulled back to Pakistan’s national side earlier than anticipated. They relied on Smith, who scored 223 runs from seven matches and was only dismissed for below 50 only twice — both by Perth — and Starc, who claimed 11 wickets from six games. Sydney added two veterans who had played five Ashes Tests to a squad wearied by an intense travel load. So much so, they couldn’t send a single player to the traditional media commitment on the eve of the final. Perth brought Laurie Evans and David Payne back to the club, while Allen returned for the second year of his deal. Payne arrived from the ILT20 on January 6 and played the next day. All three were available and played every final. It was a mistake they weren’t going to make again after Evans departed before their early finals exit two seasons ago. It proves Twenty20 titles are constructed well before the first ball is bowled and franked Perth as a leading franchise in world cricket.