THE Perth Scorchers will be eager to defend their BBL throne ahead of the upcoming season, having proven thoroughly deserving of their fourth title in club history. They won it all with a dominant home and away campaign last time around, followed by a commanding win in the final against the Sixers.

Though, with a new draft format and some big roster changes across the competition of late, the Scorchers are set to face a bit of a challenge to back up last year’s triumph.

Perth Scorchers

2021/22 record – 11 wins, three losses

The Scorchers were just about unstoppable in BBL|11, dropping just a trio of games over the course of the season as they fired in all facets of the game. Perth was almost always able to get to a winning score with the likes of Mitch Marsh and Colin Munro capable of going big on any given day.

Although those two provided some X-Factor, it was Kurtis Patterson who led the way with the most runs, posting 391 with four half-centuries on the season in an extremely consistent campaign, but he departed for the Sixers this past offseason.

With ball in hand, the Scorchers managed to keep the opposition to scores on the lower end of the hundreds. The main culprit in terms of wickets was Andrew Tye, with the 35-year-old claiming 35 scalps over the course of the season. Against the Sydney Sixers in the final, the Scorchers held the opposition to just 96 runs and completed their towering campaign.

On draft night, the Scorchers spent the least amount of any team, and dropped a bombshell when they opted to pass on their platinum pick with some big names on the board. They still added Phil Salt and Tymal Mills, both of whom will be departing the team in mid-January for rival leagues.

However, the team brought back star all-rounder Cameron Green, who has shown great signs of improvement at all levels across the past 12 months, and while he may miss a fair chunk of the fixture with international duties, he will have a big impact when on the pitch for Perth. Laurie Evans was initially retained, but recently had his contract torn up after a positive doping test.

The Scorchers will be the defending champs heading into BBL|12, and should not struggle being the hunted after retaining most of the title-winning list.

BBL|12 squad (so far): Ashton Agar, Cameron Bancroft, Jason Behrendorff, Cooper Connolly, Faf, Du Plessis, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Peter Hatzoglou, Nick Hobson, Josh Inglis, Matthew Kelly, Mitch Marsh, Tymal Mills, Lance Morris, Jhye Richardson, Phil Salt, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye