Of squirming and scurrying before the finals

Eight teams divided into four pairs across four cities, each pair playing twice. Such was the equation for the last weekend of the regular Women's BBL season, with each pair's potential results having their own ramifications for who would play finals. And the finalists were…

Brisbane had a simple equation: beat the bottom-placed Adelaide Strikers twice, vault from fifth into third or fourth. The first came easy, keeper and opener Beth Mooney making her third unbeaten score in the seventies in her last six games, and piling on a century opening stand with Kirby Short as Brisbane chased 140 with one wicket down. Mooney's 469 runs for the season leave her well clear in second behind only Meg Lanning.

The second game involved far more squirming. Brisbane were held to 127 by Amanda Wellington's scarcely credible 2 for 8 from her full allotment, not to mention Megan Schutt's 2 for 19. Adelaide were well set to knock that off with two overs to go. English import Tammy Beaumont had come good after a wretched season, notching fast fifties in both games, but was run out eight balls short.

Tegan McPharlin, the other half of a 49-run partnership, was bowled with three needed from two balls. Sarah Coyte got two off the last. Tie.

Semi-miraculously, it was Deandra Dottin bowling that over after having apparently ended her season with a horrible collision in late December. She conceded five runs and got McPharlin, then bowled the Super Over as well with two wickets and a run out to concede four. Then she came out to bat in Brisbane's reply, but only had to watch on as Mooney delivered the coup de grace. Oh, and Dottin had made 51 from 41 in the regular innings while the next best score was 19. Can you guess who won player of the match?

Brisbane's narrow escape would have been quickly reported by support staff down in Hobart, where the Hurricanes were halfway through a run chase against the Stars. Had Brisbane slipped up, the former two teams could have shared their matches one each and both kept their finals spots. As it was, their game was now a knockout.

It could already have been decided but for a scarcely believable finish in the first of their games. Hobart's Heather Knight (45 off 31) and Amy Satterthwaite (39 off 29) crunched 115 runs from 14 overs in a rain-reduced innings, a rate of better than eight per over. More rain reduced that to 98 required from 12 overs in the Stars' reply.

Emma Inglis crashed 51 from 31 at the top, but four others around her were out for single figures. With 12 needed from the last four balls, Satterthwaite took a wicket and effected a run-out. Game over, surely? But the renewed Jess Cameron smashed a straight six next ball, and under that final-ball pressure, the spinner Satterthwaite inexplicably overstepped the front line. No ball, and hit for four - a result that for a second would have had Cameron in despair, but soon realising she now need one run from a free hit. Duly delivered.

That sort of ending should have knocked out Hobart's stuffing completely, but the Hurricanes are bounce-backers. The next day Meg Lanning creamed 81 from 55 balls, an innings deserving a team total well above 135, but the next best score was Cameron's 16. It was almost enough, some fine work from legspinner Kristen Beams (3 from 11) ensuring that Hobart needed 20 from the last two overs, where they lost a couple of wickets, then needed 12 from the last. But Corinne Hall was up to the task, finding the winning boundary with a ball to spare. The Canes were fourth. For the second year running, Lanning became the only player in the competition to score over 500 runs, but still saw her team eliminated.

It was simple for Perth too. Win one game against the struggling Sydney Thunder to guarantee a finals spot, win both games to guarantee top two. They were sitting comfortably after Elyse Villani and Nicole Bolton put on a 97-run opening stand within 13 overs, Sydney futilely using eight bowlers in conceding 149, but then Perth watched in horror as a one-woman army nearly chased it down.

Having seen the captain Alex Blackwell and the dangerous Naomi Stalenberg fall in the 13th over, Indian star Harmanpreet Kaur ground her teeth in frustration and decided to do it herself. On 7 from 14 balls at the time, she ransacked six sixes in the remaining seven overs to finish 64 not out from 37, one hit short of the win.

Had her Thunder team-mates been better at giving her the strike, who knows? Harmanpreet faced three balls in the 14th over, two in the 15th, three in the 16th, and one in the 18th.

The Electric Limes got some consolation in the last game, keeping Perth to 131 with an even bowling effort despite Bolton's 53 from 43, and then chasing it down thanks to typically dashing sign-off from Stafanie Taylor of 62 off 54. The unlikely figure of Villani nabbed three wickets in five balls in the 18th over, but by then the race was largely run, Harmanpreet not out at the end to avert any alarms.

The loss didn't end up costing Perth, who retained their top-two spot thanks to the Stars and Hurricanes splitting the difference, and will benefit with a WACA final as part of a double-header with their male BBL club-mates. As with their own men's counterparts, the Sydney Thunder end their reign as defending champions, wondering where it all went wrong.

Similar to Perth, one win for the Sixers would guarantee them a top two finish, and that's what they managed. Not, however, without slipping up first time against Melbourne Renegades, who have shown admirable fight this season despite being inconsistent enough to let some opportunities slip away.

It was a hell of a chase that got Red Melbourne the win, Pink Sydney piling up 148 thanks to another fast Ash Gardner fifty and Sarah McGlashan's usual support act with 45. But Rachel Priest and Sophie Molineux ransacked 42 from the first five overs in reply, Kris Britt's 31 kept it going through the middle, and at the end it was Maitlan Brown. The ACT teenage quick had already been the pick of the bowlers, with 1 for 21 in a big score, but suddenly turned it on with the bat to smash 30 from 15 balls and take the win with an over and change to spare.

More concerning for the pink side though was captain Ellyse Perry's hamstring injury sustained while batting, which kept her out of the bowling attack, then the next game, and will see her miss at least the semi-final. Alyssa Healy took the imaginary armband, and responded well in the final fixture, crashing 84 from 56 balls. This time 158 was beyond the Renegades, who ended their overs nine down and 36 short. They have plenty to look forward to next year; the Sixers have plenty to think about over the next couple of days.