The Perth Scorchers were too good for the Adelaide Strikers in a New Year’s Eve battle for the Jason Gillespie Trophy in front of 41,624 fans at Adelaide Oval.
With Ollie Pope and Chris Lynn out early, the Strikers were in a tough spot at 2/20 following the powerplay.
Wickets continued to fall thanks to some textbook bowling from Jhye Richardson (3/29), Jason Behrendorff (2/14) and Lance Morris (2/19).
D'Arcy Short (22 runs off 19 balls) and stand-in skipper Alex Ross (20 runs off 15) offered some glimmers of hope, but their dismissals seemed to leave Adelaide with little cause for optimism.
That was until Brendan Doggett (47* off 39 balls) and Cam Boyce (29* off 22) started finding the boundary despite Perth’s stranglehold on the game.
Doggett announced his intentions with consecutive fours in the 12th over and rode that momentum to a total of seven boundaries, including two sixes.
The duo’s unbeaten 84-run partnership was the biggest ninth-wicket stand in BBL history and guided the Strikers to a total of 142.
Adelaide carried that momentum into the second innings and had Perth at 2/5 when Henry Thornton dismissed both Matthew Hurst and Aaron Hardie in the second over.
But Scorchers opener Finn Allen guided the visitors past their early hiccups and towards victory with an excellent 50-run knock from 23 balls.
Allen was later bowled by Brendan Doggett but that proved to be the last wicket of the night as BBL leading run scorer Cooper Connolly (48* off 35) and Scorchers captain Ashton Turner (35* off 18) guided Perth to a seven-wicket win.
The Strikers’ next game is against the Melbourne Renegades at Marvel Stadium on January 2. The team's next home game is against the Brisbane Heat on January 11.