The Perth Scorchers are an Australian men's professional Twenty20 franchise cricket team that competes in the Big Bash League and they also have an academy side made up of some experienced players as well as up and coming youngsters that participate in the Top End T20 Series. The Scorchers wear an orange uniform and are based in Perth in the Australian state of Western Australia. Their home ground is the Perth Stadium.
The Scorchers are the most successful team in BBL history, winning a record five championships to date and being runners up on three occasions. They were defeated in their second final by the Brisbane Heat in BBL02. They then won the next two consecutive championships, becoming the first team to achieve the feat in the league's brief history. These wins came against the Hobart Hurricanes and the Sydney Sixers in a last-ball thriller at Canberra's Manuka Oval.
Mickey Arthur was originally appointed coach, but quit before the beginning of the 2011–12 season after he was appointed coach of the Australian cricket team. He was replaced by his former assistant, Lachlan Stevens. Justin Langer replaced Stevens in November 2012. Following the appointment of Langer as the Australian coach in May 2018,
Some of the Scorchers' finest players since their inception into the BBL have been Shaun Marsh, Michael Klinger, Cameron Bancroft, Mitch Marsh, Mitchell Johnson, Adam Voges, Ashton Turner, David Willey, Pakistani cricketers Yasir Arafat, Usman Qadir, Englishman Laurie Evans, legendary wrist spinner Brad Hogg and Fast bowling Jason Behrendorff, Jhye Richardson and Andrew Tye.
The Scorchers also have a side in the Women's Big Bash League.
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.
[ Collingwood scorched ] 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
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 Marsh and
Mitchell Marsh 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.
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.
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.
2018–2019: BBL08 season
Aside from Adam Voges moving from playing to coaching, the Scorchers returned most of their roster from BBL07, as well as adding Pakistani bowler
Usman Qadir. However, very little would go right for them in this tournament. Struggles from key players like Klinger and Hilton Cartwright, as well as varying absences of
Ashton Agar, Jason Behrendorff, and
Jhye Richardson contributed to a poor season with only four wins in 14 matches. This would place the Scorchers last in the table, failing to qualify for the finals for the first time in BBL and get the
wooden spoon.
2019–2020: BBL09 season
The Scorchers roster saw significant overhaul preceding BBL09, which included the retirement of Klinger as well as the departures of Cartwright, Nathan Coulter-Nile, and
Shaun Marsh. Notable additions included bowlers
Fawad Ahmed and Matthew Kelly, batsmen
Nick Hobson and
Kurtis Patterson, and English imports Chris Jordan and
Liam Livingstone. Ahmed and Jordan proved effective additions with 15 wickets each, and Livingstone made for a dynamic opening partnership with
Josh Inglis. Depth was an issue, however, and the Scorchers would finish with six wins in 14 matches, just one point behind the Hurricanes and
Sydney Thunder for a spot in the now expanded BBL playoff.
2020–2021: BBL10 season
The Scorchers loaded up on import bats for BBL10, returning Livingstone as well as bringing on Joe Clarke,
Colin Munro, and
Jason Roy.
Ashton Turner took over the captaincy for this tournament. The Scorchers stumbled out of the gates, with three defeats and a no result in their first four matches. They ended the skid with a New Year's Eve victory over the Adelaide Strikers and would go on to win eight of the last ten matches and finish second on the table behind the
Sydney Sixers. Munro had a strong tournament that earned him a spot on the ESPNcricinfo BBL team of the season. He was joined by
Jhye Richardson, who led the tournament with 29 wickets.
The Scorchers fell to the Sixers in the Qualifier before cruising to a 49 run victory over the
Brisbane Heat in the Challenger. This earned them a rematch against the Sixers in the Final. Scorchers bowling was unable to contain the opposition's bats as the Sixers won by 27 runs to claim consecutive BBL titles.
Final
2021–2022: BBL11 season
The Scorchers retained most of their key players going into BBL11. Whilst they lost imports Livingstone, Clarke, and Roy, they brought in English batter Laurie Evans and fast bowler
Tymal Mills. However, the Scorchers would face a unique challenge in this tournament. After an opening victory over Brisbane Heat in Perth, the Scorchers were forced to play all of their remaining games on the road due to Western Australia's tightened travel requirements in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Undeterred, the squad started the tournament on a blistering pace with wins in their first six matches. The Scorchers would go on to finish atop the table with 11 wins in 14 matches. Marsh, Agar, and Tye all had stellar tournaments and were named to the ESPNcricinfo BBL team of the season.
In the Qualifier, the Scorchers cruised to a handy 48 run victory over the Sixers. In the Final six days later, the Scorchers again faced a Sixers squad depleted by injury and COVID-19. With outstanding bowling and an audacious partnership between Evans and Turner, the Scorchers defeated the Sixers by 79 runs to win their record fourth BBL title.
Final
2022–2023: BBL12 season
Due to a number of factors, the Scorchers lost numerous key pieces from BBL11's championship squad. Opener
Kurtis Patterson signed with the Sixers, while
Colin Munro was taken by the Heat in the inaugural BBL international draft. The Scorchers made three picks in the draft and none would play in the tournament. Evans, the 12th overall pick, had his contract terminated on 11 November after testing positive for a banned substance.
, the 19th overall pick, withdrew from the tournament due to injury on 2 December, while
Mitchell Marsh was ruled out of the tournament on the same day.
, the 30th and final pick of the draft, withdrew on 15 December for personal reasons that were later revealed to be a stroke suffered by his daughter.
To cover for these losses, the Scorchers signed South African batter Faf du Plessis as well as English batters
Adam Lyth and
Stephen Eskinazi.
Despite the personnel losses, the Scorchers started the tournament strong. The Scorchers finished the season on top of the season ladder playing the
Sydney Sixers in Perth in the Qualifier match and beating them by 7 wickets on the back of a 132* run partnership between captain
Ashton Turner and opener
Cameron Bancroft to reach the BBL final for the eighth time.
They played the Brisbane Heat a week later in the BBL12 Decider, winning by 5 wickets with 4 balls remaining. On a very hot day at Perth Stadium in front of a record Scorchers and BBL Finals crowd of 53,886, Brisbane set a competitive target of 175. In the run chase, every Scorchers' batsman reached double figures, but only Turner scored a half century, with 53 runs from 32 balls until he was run out. It was then left to the inexperienced Nick Hobson and teenager Cooper Connolly to score the remaining 39 runs from the last 19 balls. Connolly, in only his second BBL innings, scored 25 runs off 11 balls including 2 sixes before Hobson finished the task with a six and a four to give the Scorchers their fifth Big Bash title.
Final
2023–2024: BBL13 season
For the second year in a row, Perth Scorchers lost a key opening batter – Bancroft signed with the
Sydney Thunder – and declined to use a platinum pick in the international draft. They did, however, bring in several English batters. With the 16th pick, they selected
Zak Crawley, followed by bringing back Evans with the 17th pick.
Scorchers also retained Eskinazi and brought back Sam Whiteman, who had spent the previous two campaigns with
Sydney Thunder. Marsh would miss his second consecutive Big Bash, this time due to test duties.
Following an opening no-result against Renegades in Geelong, Scorchers started strong with victories in their first four completed matches. In the second of those, facing Hobart Hurricanes, Turner came up limping after bowling his first delivery and exited the match. It was thereafter announced that Turner had aggravated a meniscus injury in his right knee, requiring surgery that would take him out of the tournament.
Players
The Scorchers have focused on selecting mainly local players in their squad throughout their time in the BBL. This practice was questioned by some commentators, including
Brad Hodge and
Dirk Nannes, as being unfair or possibly illegal to "bundle" contracts by overpaying on state cricket association contracts and underpaying on the Scorcher's contract. However, no adverse findings have ever been delivered against the Scorchers or the WACA.
In 2023 it was highlighted that the
Melbourne Stars had five ex-Scorchers on their squad.
Season summaries
|
| | | | | | | | | – | |
| | 5–3 | 2nd | RU | | | | | – | |
| | 5–3 | 3rd | C | Justin Langer | Simon Katich | | Yasir Arafat – 12 | – | |
| | 5–3 | 2nd | C | Justin Langer | Adam Voges | | | – | |
| | 5–3 | 3rd | SF | Justin Langer | | Michael Klinger – 285 | Andrew Tye – 13 | David Willey | |
| | | | C | Justin Langer | Adam Voges | Michael Klinger – 334 | | Andrew Tye | |
| | | | SF | Justin Langer | Adam Voges | Ashton Turner – 252 | Andrew Tye – 16 | Ashton Agar | |
| | | 8th | DNQ | Adam Voges | Mitch Marsh | Ashton Turner – 378 | Andrew Tye – 17 | Ashton Turner | |
| | 6–8 | 6th | DNQ | Adam Voges | Mitch Marsh | | Fawad Ahmed – 15 | Jhye Richardson | |
| | 8–5 | 2nd | RU | Adam Voges | Ashton Turner | Colin Munro – 443 | | Jhye Richardson | |
| | | | C | Adam Voges | Ashton Turner | Kurtis Patterson – 391 | Andrew Tye – 25 | Ashton Agar | |
| | | | C | Adam Voges | Ashton Turner | Aaron Hardie – 460* | Andrew Tye – 26 | Aaron Hardie | |
| | 6–3 | 3rd | KF | Adam Voges | | Aaron Hardie – 334 | Jason Behrendorff – 16 | Aaron Hardie | |
| | 4–6 | 5th | DNQ | Adam Voges | Ashton Turner | | Jason Behrendorff – 17* | Cooper Connolly* | |
| Legend |
| Led the league |
| League record |
| Champions |
Captaincy Records
There have been seven captains in the Scorchers' history, including matches featuring an acting captain.
Home grounds
Current squad
The squad of the Perth Scorchers for the 2025–26 Big Bash League season as of 19 June 2025.
-
Players with international caps are listed in bold.
Players
Australian representatives
The following is a list of cricketers who have played for the Scorchers after making their debut in the national men's team (the period they spent as both a Scorchers squad member and an Australian-capped player is in brackets):
Overseas players
Source:
Honours
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Champions (5): BBL03, BBL04, BBL06, BBL11, BBL12
-
Runners-Up (3): BBL01, BBL02, BBL10
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Minor Premiers (5): BBL01, BBL06, BBL07, BBL11, BBL12
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Finals series appearances (11): BBL01, BBL02, BBL03, BBL04, BBL05, BBL06, BBL07, BBL10, BBL11, BBL12, BBL13
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Wooden Spoons (1): BBL08
Statistics and Awards
Team stats
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Highest score in an innings: 7/229 (20 overs) vs Melbourne Stars, 23 December 2022
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Highest successful chase: 2/192 (19.2 overs) vs Melbourne Renegades, 22 December 2011
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Lowest successful defence: 7/117 (20 overs) vs Melbourne Renegades, 26 December 2013
-
Largest victory:
-
By runs: 98 runs vs Adelaide Strikers, 10 January 2013
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By balls remaining: 53 balls remaining vs Adelaide Strikers, 20 January 2023
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Longest winning streak: 9 matches (18 January 2023 – 3 January 2024)
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Longest losing streak: 5 matches (24 January – 28 December 2020)
Source:
Individual stats
Source:
Individual awards
-
Player of the Match:
-
Mitch Marsh – 9
-
Jhye Richardson and Ashton Turner – 8
-
Jason Behrendorff, Josh Inglis, and Shaun Marsh – 6
-
Michael Klinger – 5
-
Cameron Bancroft and Andrew Tye – 4
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Ashton Agar, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Laurie Evans, Brad Hogg, and Liam Livingstone – 3
-
Yasir Arafat, Michael Carberry, Aaron Hardie, Nick Hobson, Mitchell Johnson, Colin Munro, Jason Roy, Craig Simmons, and David Willey – 2
-
Fawad Ahmed, Michael Beer, Hilton Cartwright, Cooper Connolly, Herschelle Gibbs, Peter Hatzoglou, Simon Katich, Matthew Kelly, Hamish McKenzie, Marcus North, Kurtis Patterson, David Payne, and Adam Voges – 1
-
BBL Player of the Final:
-
BBL Player of the Tournament:
-
BBL Team of the Tournament:
Notes
External links
