Game recap: Well that's what Twenty20 cricket is all about. Just when the Scorchers seemed to have forced their way back into the game, Sixers skipper Steve Smith slammed it shut with a late cameo.
Two brilliant innings were played - Mitch Marsh's 77 not out and Moises Henriques' hard-hitting 70. But it was the latter (as part of a 110-run opening partnership with Steve O'Keefe) which proved most pivotal.
As Luke Ronchi said post-game, the Scorchers were behind the eightball from the outset, when losing two wickets in the first four balls of the match.
Thanks chiefly to Marsh, the home side was able to post a competitive 156 but, after the Scorchers finally got rid of Henriques and O'Keefe to get a sniff of a win, Nathan Rimmington had an over he would probably like to forget which allowed the Sixers to reclaim the ascendancy.
And so Smith and his men in pink (or magenta, as the franchise calls it) take home the inaugural Big Bash League trophy.
For Marcus North and the Scorchers, it's unfortunately a continuation of a WA trophy drought that extends back to 2003-04.
8.09pm: The Sixers don't even need the final over. Steve Smith drives the ball past Edmondson for four to reach the required tally with seven balls still remaining. The Sixers are jubilant, the Scorchers clearly shattered.
8.07pm: Ben Rohrer takes two off the first delivery he faces and now all the Sixers need is a boundary's worth in 10 balls.
8.06pm: Ben Edmonsdon entrusted with the second last over. Steve Smith takes a single off the first delivery.
8.04pm: Oh, cricket can be a cruel game. Steve Smith French cuts a full toss he was trying to cover drive and it goes for four to fine leg. The equation is now seven runs off 12 balls . That over might have cost Perth big time.
8.01pm: Rimmington with the ball and Steve Smith guides it for FOUR to third man to make it 18 needed from 17 balls. And Rimmington bowls short the next one which Smith hits behind square on the leg side for FOUR more. Equation 14 off 16 . Disastrous over for Perth so far.
7.58pm: ANOTHER WICKET! O'Keefe tries to step across his stumps and flip it over fine leg but only hits it to Nathan Rimmington in a catching position. It's now 23 needed off 20 balls and the Sixers are three-down.
7.56pm: WICKET! Oh what a catch. WAtoday columnist and Scorchers skipper Marcus North covers plenty of ground to get under a skied pull shot from Maddinson and takes a brilliant catch running with the flight of the ball. The equation is now back to 23 off 22 and Perth might still have some hope.
7.54pm: Ben Edmondson comes in and bowls a horrible wide - wide as in far too high. His bouncer soars about an extra body length over Maddinson's head. Should have been a double-wide.
7.51pm: Nathan Coulter-Nile's over costs four runs and the Sixers now need 24 from 24 . Will it get to the last over?
7.47pm: And he doesn't get it. The last ball is dropped in short (was it the rarely seen flipper?) and O'Keefe deposited it over mid-wicket for SIX . Equation is now 28 needed from 30 balls.
7.45pm: No pressure on Hoggy but he surely needs a wicket in his last over here to keep the Scorchers in the game.
7.44pm: That over went for nine runs - something the Scorchers didn't need. A fine sweep for four by Nic Maddinston was telling. Sixers 1/121 needing 36 off 36 .
7.42pm: Beer back to make a two-pronged spin attack for the Scorchers.
7.36pm: WICKET: And who else could it be but George Bradley Hogg. Henriques' brilliant innings of 70 (off 41 balls) ends as he comes a couple of steps out of his crease and Hogg beats him behind his legs. Ronchi whips off the bails and it's 1/110 .
7.34pm: Eleven from that over and the Sixers are all over this. Sydney is 0/109 and needs only 48 off the next 48 balls. You hate to call things early but this one looks as good as over.
7.31pm: Rimmington now back into the attack. Sixers need 59 off 54 and an edged cut from Henriques that goes for four and brings up the Sydney 100 won't help matters for Perth. Scorchers can't buy a wicket.
7.28pm: SIX more for Henriques. Didn't middle that one but it still cleared the ropes between cover and mid-off. He's 64 and the Sixers need 61 to win. Could he crack 100?
7.26pm: And Henriques responds by belting a SIX over long on. Great shot.
7.24pm: O'Keefe bludgeons Hogg over mid-wicket for four. Sixers are now 0/82 needing 75 off 60 . Coulter-Nile back into the attack.
7.21pm: Henriques tickles one to fine leg to bring up his 50. They are trying to get the Hoggy chant going in the crowd but with the Sixers 0/73 and needing 84 off 66 , things aren't looking great for the Scorchers.
7.19pm: SIX: Mitch Marsh in to the attack and bowls a short one that O'Keefe hammers over square leg for six. Scorchers need a wicket badly.
7.17pm: Henriques on the other hand, is seeing them like beach balls. He steps inside the line of a Hogg wrong'un and drives it over mid-off for four. Sixers 0/62 after eight overs, Henriques up to 47 off 28 balls.
7.13pm: Starts with the wrong'un, which O'Keefe doesn't pick. I know how he feels .
7.12pm: And here is George Bradley Hogg.
7.10pm: Beer back into the attack and Henriques pulveries consecutive SIXES. One was a stiff-armed jab straight down the ground, the other went wide of (and over, by some distance!) long on. Sixers 0/52 and Henriques moves to 42.
7.08pm: Mark Waugh just described O'Keefe as "swinging like a rusty gate" - but that's being unkind to rusty gates for mine. Henriques on the other hand, is 28 off 22 balls and belted another couple of boundaries in that Edmondson over. Sixers 0/38 after six .
7.03pm: Well that must be what they mean by a bee's whisker. Coulter-Nile bowls a straight full toss that O'Keefe edges past off stump. Must have missed by a coat of varnish. Another good over from Coulter-Nile, only the two from it, Sixers 0/28 off five.
7.00pm: Sixers now 0/26 off four overs . Henriques had a bit of a "mare" in the field but he's looking good with the bat. Crunching lofted pull shot for four during that Edmondson over. Moises is 19 off 18 balls.
6.58pm: Marcus North ringing the changes here with the Perth bowlers. Now it's Ben Edmondson into the attack to bowl the fourth over. Henriques steps back and smashes the third ball of it over cover for a boundary.
6.56pm: Good over from Coulter-Nile swings momentum back the home team's way. Only the one from it, thanks to a brilliant stop at point by Herschelle Gibbs from a Henriques cut shot. Sixers 0/16 after three overs.
6.54pm: Nathan Coulter-Nile replaces Michael Beer with the ball for the Scorchers.
6.53pm: Nathan Rimmington and his beard (teammates call him Alan from The Hangover ) go for 10 off their first over. Sixers 0-15. Nothing spectacular yet but obviously a much better start than their hosts had.
6.49pm: Huge cheer off the first ball of Nathan Rimmington's over. Not a wicket or a boundary just cult hero Brad Hogg picking up the ball at deep-ish mid-wicket as Henriques clips a single.
6.48pm: Tidy enough over for Beer - goes for five runs. Four of them came when he chucked up a half-tracker to Henriques, who duly cut it for four. Sixers 0/5 .
6.44pm: Moises Henriques and Steve O'Keefe opening for the Sixers. Left-arm spinner Michael Beer takes the ball for the Scorchers.
Innings recap: Well you'd have to say the Sixers had marginally the better of that first 90 minutes on a hot evening when the outfield was like lightning.
The Scorchers were under the pump from the moment Brett Lee dismissed Herschelle Gibbs and Luke Ronchi inside the first over.
Mitch Marsh (77 not out) played one of the best innings of his young career to right the Perth ship, receiving some handy support from skipper Marcus North (22) and Paul Collingwood (32).
From where they were at 2/2, the Scorchers' final tally of 156 was probably better than a pass mark. But will it prove enough over the next 20 overs?
Lee was brilliant in finishing with 2/21 off four overs and allowing only nine runs from the final six balls. Stuart MacGill claimed 1/20 off his four overs.
6.29pm: Well bowled Brett Lee. The final delivery of the Scorchers' innings is full-pitched outside off stump and Marsh can't get bat on it. The batsmen steal a bye that takes Perth's final score to 5/156 .
6.28pm: Brilliant bowling by Brett Lee - a yorker that Marsh can only dig out and it's a dot ball.
6.27pm: Rimmington plays and misses and they steal a single. Marsh can now potentially face the last two balls.
6.26pm: Slack bit of fielding by Steve O'Keefe as Marsh pinches two on a punch to mid-on. Rimmington just scraped home at the bowler's end as Lee broke the stumps. O'Keefe just wasn't awake down there. Scorchers 5/153 .
6.24pm: FOUR: Rimmington hits the first ball he faces to fine leg for four. Actually, add in another FOUR as the first ball of Brett Lee's last over is French cut for four by Marsh. Scorchers 5/151 in the 20th .
6.22pm: WICKET: Katich hits the ball well but it goes straight down the gullet of Nic Maddinson at mid-off. Scorchers 5/143, Rimmington is the next man in and Marsh is still there on 70.
6.21pm: And now Simon Katich gets going. Starc bowls a half-tracker that Katich smacks to the boundary at midwicket. Scorchers 4/143 .
6.19pm: SIX, SIX! Oh boy, Mitch Marsh opens up with consecutive maximum scores off Starc. First was a mistimed lofted cover drive that owed everything to Marsh's sheer power. The next one was a brutual thump straight down the ground. Scorchers 4/139 half-way through the 18th over.
6.16pm: DROPPED CATCH: Plenty of action this over. Marsh clips a full toss to Steve O'Keefe at wide-ish mid on but he spills what looked a pretty straightforward chance. More drama as Steve Smith misses with a shy at the stumps that would have run out Marsh offf the last ball. Scorchers 4/126 after 18 . Marsh is 57 off 49 balls.
6.15pm: Another WIDE from Brett Lee. He's obviously aiming to bowl full outside off-stump but not that far outside.
6.13pm: de ja vu as Brett Lee comes back into the attack. He starts with a wide outside off stump, reminiscent of his near disastrous last over against the Scorchers in Sydney a couple of weeks back.
6.11pm: Good over from Starc - eight off it which takes the Scorchers to 4/119 from 17 overs . Action-packed entry from Simon Katich - got a ripping bouncer first-up (crowd thought it was a wide), French cut the next for four and scurried through for two off the final ball of the over.
6.09pm: Horrid night thus far for Henriques. Marsh just lofted a cover drive that looked catchable for the man in the deep but Henriques couldn't pick it out facing into the sun.
6.07pm: WICKET: Starc's reintroduction pays immediate dividends as Collingwood mistimes an attempted lofted drive. The ball goes into orbit before settling safely in Steve Smith's hands. Scorchers 4/112 in the 17th over.
6.06pm: Sixers going back to the big guns. Starc back into attack with two overs remaining and it's the same equation for Bing Lee.
6.04pm: Not sure what Collingwood was thinking there. But it worked. He played the reverse sweep to a short-pitched Moran delivery and it became a top-edged reverse pull that ran down to the fine leg boundary. Scorchers 3/111 after 16 and this partnership between Marsh and Collingwood is past 50.
6.01pm: MacGill's spell ends with figures of 1/20 off four - great variety and a pleasure to watch. Could have had Marsh out twice in that final over. Once with a sliced and skied drive over cover that fell in no man's land, then with a ball that hit his body and dropped next to the stumps. Scorchers 3/99 .
5.59pm: And that's fifty for Mitch Marsh - off 40 deliveries. Great time to do it, is there a more exciting young player in the country?
5.57pm: WOW: The Scorchers need to get a wriggle on and Collingwood helps by reverse sweeping a full toss from Moran outside off stump for four. Scorchers 3/93 .
5.55pm: Paul Collingwood gets in on the act. Steps across his stumps to Ian Moran's second delivery and just helps it on its way to the boundary at fine leg. Scorchers 3/87 .
5.53pm: Stuey MacGill - proof leg-spinners have a place in T20 cricket. That over cost only three and the Scorchers are 3/83 after 13 and are going to have to lift the run rate at some stage.
5.49pm: SIX: I blog too soon. Marsh comes down the pitch to O'Keefe and cracks it down the ground and in to the third tier of the stands. Over costs O'Keefe 10 runs and he finishes with 0/22 off his four. Scorchers up to 3/79 with Marsh 44 off 33 and Collingwood 8 off 10.
5.47pm: Marsh, not surprisingly, has gone quiet since North's dismissal. Big job for the 19-year-old here - he's really the one recognised hitter through the Scorchers' midde order.
5.45pm: OOOH (collective noise in commentary box and around ground). Collingwood fails to pick MacGill's straight one and is all at sea outside off stump. But the Englishman rebounds to sweep the next one for four. Scorchers 3/69 .
5.43pm: Another top over from O'Keefe. Only three from it and he's now gone for only 12 runs from three overs. Unlucky not to be in the Aussie T20 side. Scorchers 3/63 at the half-way point.
5.40pm: WICKET! MacGill had bowled just about every delivery in his repertoire that over and the last of them was full pitched and on leg stump. North went to sweep and top edged to short fine leg. Scorchers now 3/60 with Marsh on 33 off 25.
5.38pm: MacGill gets away with one there. A juicy full toss outside leg stump that Marsh duly hits backwards of square leg but there's a fielder covering and it's only the single.
5.37pm: And here comes the transplanted WA boy Stuart MacGill into to the attack for Sydney. Will the young buck Mitch Marsh go after him?
5.36pm: Again it's up to O'Keefe to steady things for Sydney. His over goes for only six, although Marsh cut another four behind point. Scorchers 2/56 after eight .
5.33pm: Fifty up for the Scorchers with a Marsh single off the last ball of the Henriques over. Poor old Moises must hate playing the Scorchers - last time in Sydney it was Luke Ronchi who took the long handle to him, now it's Marsh.
5.32pm: SIX! Mitch Marsh is launching an all out assault on Henriques here. That's 16 from the over already and that lofted drive just cleared the long off boundary. Scorchers 2/49.
5.28pm: Steve O'Keefe into the attack for the Sixers and his opening over is first-rate - three runs from it and Perth's problem continues to be well-struck shots that pick out the fielders. Power play is over and the Scorchers are 2/33 after six overs.
5.25pm: Much better over there form the Scorchers - 10 from it. Perth is 2/30 with North on 18 and Marsh on 7. Steve Smith provided a moment for the blooper tape just before, skidding in to try and effect a run out and managing to take out all three stumps - with his body...
5.22pm: And there we go. North hits the first ball of Moises Henriques' first over for four to take the Scorchers to 2/25 .
5.20pm: Scorchers steadying here but will want to lift the run rate at some stage. They are 2/20 after four and Marcus North is seeing them well but struggling to pierce the field.
5.17pm: Another really handy over from Brett Lee there. Only three from it and Mitch Marsh was close to being run out on a quick single. Scorchers 2/17 .
5.12pm: End of second over and Scorchers are now 2/14 after a Mitch Marsh boundary through the covers. Big job ahead for Marsh and the skipper here.
5.11pm: FOUR: North keeps his good form going by hitting the second ball he faces to the boundary. It was a well timed push through mid-wicket and it takes the Scorchers to 2/9 .
5.08pm: End of the first over and what drama. Scorchers finished it at 2/4 after Mitch Marsh only got a single from a full-blooded drive off the sixth ball. Marcus North still out there for Perth but hasn't faced a delivery yet.
5.05pm: WICKET! It's Brett Lee again, Ronchi flashes at one that's wide and full and he edges to Nevill in the slips. Scorchers 2/2 , what a dramatic first over.
5.03pm: Luke Ronchi elevated to No. 3 for the Scorchers. He pushes Lee's second delivery through mid-wicket for two to get the scoreboard ticking over. Scorchers 1/2 .
5.01pm: WICKET! Disastrous start for the Scorchers, delight for the Sixers. Lee gives Gibbs a shortish one first-up and he pulls it straight down the throat of Thornely at deep square leg. Scorchers 1/0 .
5.00pm: Herschelle Gibbs to face the first ball for the Scorchers. Brett Lee, not surprisingly, takes the ball for the Sixers.
4.58pm: Hulking Victoria Cross winner Ben Roberts-Smith delivers the match ball via helicopter. He made Steve Smith look like a jockey! Not sure that's the most carbon neutral way to start a game but it's a quirky touch.
4.55pm: Great contest between bat and ball coming up here. The Scorchers' opening partnership of Gibbs and North rank second and seventh respectively in the competition for runs scored . Mitchell Starc of the Sixers is third in bowling strike rate. Something, you think, will have to give.
4.51pm: And here's Hogg now on the TV. It's Hogg-mania at the moment folks, you just can't escape the bloke. And I can personally vouch for the bowling form he's in right now.
4.44pm: Only 15 minutes to go folks before the Scorchers go out to bat. All eyes will be on Marcus North and Herschelle Gibbs at that point but there's a great sub-plot to this game in the two comeback spinners - Brad Hogg and Stuart MacGill. Hogg was on radio a little earlier talking about how their rivalry extends back to high school in Perth, Hogg playing for Aquinas and MacGill for Christchurch.
4.39pm: OK - I stand corrected. The Freo Doctor is in and, according to Allan Border, it's cooling things down a little. If you can't believe Captain Grumpy, who can you believe! There goes my prospective career with the weather bureau...
4.37pm: Mitchell Starc shapes as a really key inclusion tonight for the Sixers. He bowled superbly at times (with noticeable movement) in the WACA Test against India and ripped through the Scorchers' top order at the SCG a couple of weeks back.
4.33pm: And batting first really pays off in these Twenty20 games. The stat is that nine of the last 10 teams to bat first in Big Bash games have emerged victorious - including the Sixers (by a single run) last time these two teams met at the SCG a couple of weeks back.
4.31pm: Marcus North provides a bit of humour by saying this is the first sea breeze he's seen in a couple of weeks. Fair suck of the sauce bottle Northy! On a positive note for the Scorchers skipper, he's won the toss and elected to bat.
4.25pm: And we're up and running folks. In old fashioned language they would describe today as a "stinker" The top today in Perth was 42 degrees and it's still up around the 39 degree mark. Unlike last week when the Freo Doctor provided some evening respite, I think the WACA will truly be The Furnace tonight.
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