IT WAS not to be for Brisbane Heat on the weekend in the Women’s Big Bash League Final, as Melbourne Renegades saluted to win their first ever title.

Speaking to the media post-match, defeated Heat skipper Jess Jonassen reflected on where it all went wrong for her side.

“To be fair, I think we were a little bit sloppy in the field early,” Jonassen admitted.

“We made a few uncharacteristic errors, which could or couldn’t have cost us, I guess we’ll never know,” she said. “But when we weren’t really on from that perspective and then I think obviously when the rain came, I think the Duckworth Lewis total went a bit higher than we probably envisaged in the end, but when you sort of go from six an over to then all of a sudden needing nines when you’ve got to start again it’s a bit of a tough ask.

“I think there’s probably those couple of things, but I mean, it’s one of those ones that I thought we bowled alright, I thought it was a pass score that if we had the full 20 overs I felt confident that we would have been able to chase it down.”

As the team batting second, the rain delay that came part way through the Heat’s batting innings made things a lot harder for them than it did the Renegades.

“It was obviously in the forecast, but I think it’s one of those ones where you’ve got to still play what’s in front of you,” Jonassen said.  

“I think for our top order, someone particularly like Grace Harris, she’s better when she’s trying to hit the ball, so for her obviously that one didn’t quite come off today.

“Who knows, if it hit the middle of the bat, went over for four, we could have been flying and could have been away. “It’s just one of those things. “You want people to go out there and try and take the game on, but also try and play safe. So we didn’t look too far ahead in terms of knowing when exactly rain was coming, because otherwise you could be waiting the whole innings for something that might not eventually happen.”

Despite coming into bat at fifth, Jonassen played a true captain’s knock, trying her hardest to pick the run rate up and get her side over the line.

“By the time Loz [Lauren Winfield-Hill] came out, I just said let’s give it a red hot crack,” Jonassen said.

“When I was batting with Knotty [Charli Knott] at the start, we were trying to still bat and sort of use our match ups. So obviously with an off spinner, it’s not generally the best match up for me as a left hander, so we were trying to look to utilise those. “But certain plans that we took in didn’t quite work, so we then had to try and adjust, and when you need upwards of 10 and over, maybe even 12 by that point, you don’t really have the time for too many more dot balls.” So yeah, we got it close but were probably just an overall two behind.”