Brisbane Heat enjoyed some exceptional contributions from their leaders on finals weekend as the stormed to WBBL05 glory, don't overlook the steady work of young White Ferns Maddy Green and Amelia Kerr in their championship run though. The Heat handled their business against Melbourne Renegades and Adelaide Strikers were too good for Perth Scorchers in Saturday's semi-finals, setting up the battle of the kiwis with the younger duo getting the bickies ahead of Sophie Devine and Suzie Bates in the final.

Kerr took 1w @ 7.50 and Green smacked 46 @ 158.62sr in the semi-final win against Lea Tahuhu's Melbourne Renegades. In taking the wicket of Sri Lankan star Chamari Atapattu, Kerr hinted at an almighty trend for finals weekend as she then went on to take the wicket of Bates in the final, after Bates had wiggled her way to 27 off 24 balls. In both games, Kerr dismissed a key batswoman and did so after they had faced a bunch of deliveries; if world-class batters are getting starts, then things can get crazy.

In either game, Kerr's only wicket was crucial and she finished with 1w @ 5.50rpo in the final. Green also played a key role in the field, taking the catch to dismiss Devine in the final and with the younger White Ferns helping the Heat send the veteran White Ferns back to the pavilion, Adelaide had to rely on the rest of their batting line up to reach 161/7.

Green couldn't quite chip in as she did in the semi-final (11 off 9), which is fine as Brisbane have a whole lot of class around the younger kiwis and Green did her job in the semi. The Heat reached their target with 11 balls remaining, while Devine finished with 1w @ 15.33rpo and Bates had 5.14rpo off her 1.1ov.

This is Brisbane's second consecutive championship, although Green and Kerr weren't part of the Heat whanau last year. With three bowlers in the top-10 for wickets and two batswomen in the top-10 for runs, including Beth Mooney who was the only joker to come close to matching Devine's run-scorer, Brisbane were the perfect fit for Green and Kerr. Green found ways to contribute, especially after moving up the top of the batting order and she finished as the third leading run-scorer for Brisbane with 309 runs @ 20.60avg/112.36sr.

Kerr was fourth in wickets for Brisbane, taking 14w @ 25.50avg/6.22rpo which featured a timely little streak of six games in a row where Kerr took a wicket and that included the lead in to finals cricket and finals weekend. Only scoring 107 runs overall, Kerr did so with a rather healthy strike-rate of 125.88 and executed her role down the order nicely when required.

Devine carried her form all the way into finals weekend, taking 2w @ 5.75rpo in the semi-final vs Perth Scorchers and then hitting 65* @ 141.30sr to ensure victory. Bates bowled 2ov @ 8rpo and was run-out for 1 in the semi-final and unfortunately for Adelaide, a lack of runs and wickets from the legendary kiwis was a hefty factor in their loss to Brisbane.

Finishing on top of the run-scoring charts, Devine scored 769 runs @ 76.90avg/130.33sr via 29 sixes - the next best six-hitter had 19 sixes. Devine and Mooney both finished with nine 50+ scores throughout the tournament, while Devine also took 19w @ 20.68avg/6.77rpo with the ball to finish fourth in wickets.

Devine's work takes on a whole nek level when pondering how Bates could only manage 325 runs @ 21.66avg/99.38sr. Solid by anyone else's ruler, for Bates though this was a dip in her typically slick WBBL work and despite chiming in when Devine had a random off-day, Bates couldn't find any great consistency with the bat. This blew up the importance of Devine's runs at the top of the order and it was rather amazing to watch Devine take on that responsibility in leading the Strikers to the final.

Given that Devine was also the driving force behind much of the charity work from the players during WBBL05, this wasn't just about Devine's cricketing exploits. As kiwi sports fans, we watch Aotearoa produce a insane about of sporting exports and we kind of expect the abundance of kiwis around the world competing at a high level to do so in a wholesome, hearty manner. All the kiwis in WBBL05 did exactly that, Devine went full hundies though with her zinc campaign ... after the headband campaign last year and for Aotearoa to not only be contributing runs and wickets to WBBL05, but also sparking the generosity vibes is nothing but lovely.

Brisbane Heat are champions though and as we haven't seen the White Ferns for yonks, I'm intrigued about what a couple of younger players winning WBBL05 might do for the balance of the White Ferns. After sliding backwards a wee bit from their perch as a world-class team, the White Ferns have seen the gap between their best players and the younger/new players increase which has been a major factor in this recent plateau.

Green and Kerr are the leaders of that tier below the likes of Bates, Devine, Tahuhu, Rachel Priest, Amy Satterthwaite and Katey Martin. Hopefully this success empowers Green and Kerr to greater heights with the White Ferns and get them back to where they can be as a team that is a genuine threat to the likes of Australia, England and India.

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Peace and love 27.