The performance of Alana King in her two finals so far is an ominous sign for the Hobart Hurricanes as they prepare to face King’s Perth Scorchers in the WBBL|11 final
Beth Mooney has warned that Alana King is back to her old self ahead of the WBBL decider, with the leg-spinner to enter the final against Hobart as Perth’s trump card.
Fighting to even finish in the top-four just a week ago, Perth reached a record fourth grand final with an 11-run defeat of the Sydney Sixers on Thursday night.
Much of the attention has rightfully been on Mooney over the past fortnight, after the opener hit the Scorchers into the finals with an unbeaten 94 against Brisbane.
She has followed that up with back-to-back player-of-the-match performances in knockout finals against the Melbourne Stars and Sixers, hitting 76 on Thursday.
But the influence of King also can’t be understated.
The leg-spinner took just one wicket in Perth’s first five games, all while nursing a broken little finger on her right bowling hand since early in the tournament.
However she has come alive in the finals matches, changing the match in the Scorchers’ win over the Stars when she had Amy Jones stumped to spark a Melbourne collapse.
King finished with 2-25 in that win, as the Stars fell from 1-101 to 9-145 off the back of the spinner’s decisive 13th over.
And the leggie’s role was even greater on Thursday, claiming 3-17 and killing off the Sixers’ chase with a power surge over that went for just four runs late in the chase.
“She’s been huge,” Mooney said.
“She’s obviously struggled a little bit throughout the tournament with the pace of her leg spin.
“But the last two games, she looks like the old Alana King.
“She is bubbly, she is energetic, she is ripping the ball and bowling some crucial overs for us now.”
Saturday’s final in Hobart makes for an interesting contrast, with the Hurricanes having played just half a rain-affected game in the past 11 days.
In comparison, Perth have played four sudden-death matches, flown across the country on Wednesday and then travelled to Hobart on Friday.
The last match between the teams a fortnight ago was the highest-scoring of the season, with Hobart pulling off a record chase to haul in Perth’s 5-186.
On that occasion King went for 1-31 off three overs, while the Hurricanes didn’t lose a wicket between the third and 15th overs.
“We could have got 200 ourselves, probably left a few out there,” Mooney said.
“But I think in terms of where we were at as a group, we did really well to take it to the last over, they should have won two or three overs before they did.
“A couple of wickets through the middle really changes the momentum of the game and gets that run-rate required creeping up.”
Weber WBBL|11 finals
The Knockout: Perth Scorchers v Melbourne Stars, WACA Ground (Tuesday, December 9, 7.45pm AEDT)
The Challenger: Sydney Sixers v winner of the Knockout, North Sydney Oval (Thursday, December 11, 7.15pm AEDT)
The Final: Hobart Hurricanes v winner of the Challenger, Ninja Stadium (Saturday, December 13, 7.15pm AEDT)
*A reserve day on Sunday, December 14 is available for the Final
