Brisbane Heat thrashed Sydney Sixers in the final of the Big Bash League 2023 -24 to end their 11-year wait for the title on Wednesday, January 24. In-form Spencer Johnson took four wickets to bowl out the Sixers on just 112 runs and helped his team clinch a dominating 54-run win at Sydney Cricket Ground.
A brilliant fifty from Josh Brown and a quick 40-run knock from in-form Matt Renshaw helped the Heat post a challenging total of 166/8 while batting first. The experienced pacer Sean Abbott took four wickets for the Sixers while the team's leading wicket-taker Ben Dwarshuis bagged one.
Spencer claimed valuable wickets of Jack Edwards and Josh Phillipe in his first spell and then picked two more in the middle overs to walk away with the Player of the Match award. Xavier Bartlett finished the game with two wickets in the 18th over and replaced Spencer to top the bowling chart in BBL 2023-24 with 20 wickets.
The 28-year-old left-arm pacer finished the terrific season with 19 wickets in 11 innings to enjoy his rise to T20 cricket. He is surprisingly not part of Australia's next month's T20I series against West Indies having played two T20Is since making his debut in August 2023.
Spencer will next seen in action with Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League 2024. The Titans shockingly splashed INR 10 crore to sign the pacer in last month's IPL auction 2024, making him their most expensive signing at the event. Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Capitals also showed interest in the pacer but the Titans won the final bid to boost their bowling reinforcements.
With Alzarri Joseph released, the Titans will be excited about Spencer's performances in the BBL 2023-24 and will be hoping for a similar impact in the upcoming IPL season. Spencer is likely to form an impressive pace attack with Mohammed Shami and Mohit Kumar at the Ahmedabad-based franchise.
