Sydney Thunder 158 for 7 (Konstas 53, Andrews 37*, Morris 3-43) beat Perth Scorchers 97 (Hardie 22, Green 3-13, McAndrew 2-21) by 61 runs
Sam Konstas smashed a half-century on a tricky Showground surface before Sydney Thunder capitalised on reckless batting from Perth Scorchers to secure their place in the BBL finals.
After being sent in, Konstas produced a fast start for Thunder before they were reeled in by Scorchers' spinners until Tom Andrews blasted an unbeaten 37 off 13 balls at the death.
Chasing 159, Scorchers had a horror show with the bat marked by the disastrous run-outs of Cooper Connolly and Sam Fanning as they were bowled out for 97 in the 18th over.
BBL powerhouse Scorchers require a miracle to reach the finals after slumping to a fourth straight defeat.
Konstas fires, Andrews provides late lift
On a surface known for being sluggish and favouring spin, Konstas and fellow opener David Warner decided to go for broke against the new ball.
They smashed 36 runs in the first three overs with Warner setting the tone with an early blow over the infield before being overtaken by Konstas.
Konstas mixed elegant strokes with trademark inventiveness to race to 28 off 12 balls, but Warner's dismissal in the last over of the powerplay triggered a collapse.
Konstas could not find the strike as Thunder's batters struggled mightily on a surface that started to become difficult to bat on. They didn't score a boundary for almost 10 overs until Konstas cleverly reverse-swept Connolly's left-arm spin for a boundary.
He brought up his half-century off 40 balls with a dismissive boundary off speedster Lance Morris before holing out shortly afterwards. At 114 for 7 after 17 overs, Thunder appeared likely to fall well short of a decent total until Andrews unfurled several mighty strokes at the death.
He finished the innings with a six down the ground in a final over that cost 25 runs - the most expensive of veteran Jason Behrendorff's T20 career.
Beardman debuts, spin takes over
Scorchers' finals hopes received a blow after Jhye Richardson's latest injury setback ended his BBL season.
But it meant an opportunity for 19-year-old quick Mahli Beardman, who has been mentored by Dennis Lillee. A year ago he starred at the Under 19 World Cup and recently played in the Prime Minister's XI two-day match against India in Canberra.
He had a tough BBL initiation, entering the attack in the third over against Konstas and Warner. Beardman hopes to one day emulate Morris and bowl 150 kph, but he can already produce significant pace around 140 kph.
Beardman was under siege against a rampaging Konstas, his Australia Under-19 teammate, who used his feet superbly to whack a slower delivery down the ground for six.
But with the wicket slowing up notably after the powerplay, skipper Ashton Turner turned to his spinners and Connolly, Ashton Agar and Matthew Spoors delivered with three wickets between them.
Connolly, whose bowling is slowly progressing, was extremely accurate and clean-bowled Sam Billings to finish with 1 for 16 off 4 overs. It was a tonic after Connolly was not not named in Australia's Champions Trophy squad.
Having taken 2 for 6 off 4 overs at this ground last season, Agar was again miserly with 1-14 off 4 overs while Spoors claimed his first BBL wicket after dismissing George Garton.
Morris recovered from a tardy start to claim three wickets with fiery bowling touching near 150 kph. But Turner was left to rue not bowling out Spoors, who still had two overs left, with Morris and Behrendorff smashed at the death.
Sangha returns in favourable conditions
Playing just his third BBL game of the season, legspinner Tanveer Sangha had the ideal surface to make his return. He started nervously after a loose delivery was swept by Aaron Hardie to the boundary.
But Sangha had his revenge with a flatter, straighter delivery that clean-bowled Hardie. He bowled tidily through the middle overs to suffocate Scorchers in tandem with offspinner Chris Green to finish with 1 for 18 off 4 overs.
Green claimed a couple of late wickets to finish with 3-13 off 4 overs, while Andrews capped a fine all-round match with the wicket of Nick Hobson.
Hardie's struggles continue
Allrounder Hardie started the day with good news after he was selected for Australia's Champions Trophy squad despite a modest BBL season playing as a specialist batter.
He came to the crease in the second over following the wicket of Finn Allen. Disaster struck when Fanning was run out at the non-striker's end after Hardie had initially called for a single before changing his mind.
The run-out seemed to rattle Hardie, who was edgy at the crease before smashing consecutive sixes on the leg side off quick Nathan McAndrew. But he was soon bowled for 22 - which was Scorchers' top score - to trigger a collapse.
Scorchers' disastrous performance was summed up by Connolly, their leading batter this season, being run out attempting a second run after a direct throw from Hugh Weibgen at midwicket.
Turner, who has rescued his team many times before, holed out tamely as Scorchers appear almost certain to miss finals for just the third time in BBL history.
