The Canberra final
The fourth season is remembered less for how it was won than for where. Cricket Australia had agreed to take a match to Manuka Oval in Canberra, and the fixture chosen was the final itself, played on 28 January 2015 between Sydney Sixers and Perth Scorchers. It remains the only Big Bash League final not staged at the home ground of one of the two teams, and the arrangement was not repeated.
The rest of the season followed the established shape: thirty-two league matches from 18 December, eight per side, then two semi-finals. Attendance rose again, to 825,657 across 35 matches, with crowd records set in New South Wales, South Australia and Tasmania during the same summer.
The league stage
Adelaide Strikers finished first with six wins, one defeat and a no-result, their best league campaign to that point. Perth Scorchers, Melbourne Stars and Sydney Sixers followed on five wins each. Brisbane Heat, champions two years earlier, finished last.
The season produced the lowest total in the competition's history at that point when Melbourne Renegades were dismissed for 57 by Sydney Sixers, and also the largest run chase then recorded at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Michael Klinger made 326 runs for Perth, the most by any player, with an unbeaten 105 against Melbourne Renegades; Peter Handscomb and Jacques Kallis also passed 95 in single innings. John Hastings of Melbourne Stars took 16 wickets, one more than two Perth bowlers.
Jacques Kallis, playing his only Big Bash League season, was named player of the tournament for Sydney Thunder, who nonetheless finished seventh.
Semi-finals
Sydney Sixers went to Adelaide Oval on 24 January, made 181 for 4 and bowled the table-topping Strikers out for 94. The margin of 87 runs was the largest in a Big Bash League knockout match to that point, and Nic Maddinson took the award. The following afternoon Perth Scorchers defended 144 for 7 against Melbourne Stars at the WACA Ground, dismissing them for 126 with a ball to spare; Andrew Tye was named player of the match.
The final
At Manuka Oval, Sydney Sixers made 147 for 5. Perth Scorchers reached 148 for 6 with two balls to spare, Shaun Marsh anchoring the chase and taking the match award. It was Perth's second title in succession, the first time any side had retained the Big Bash League, and their fourth final in four seasons.
Consequences
The Canberra experiment did not survive. Later finals were awarded to whichever qualifier finished higher, and Manuka Oval reverted to the occasional league fixture and, in 2020-21, to a neutral hub venue during the pandemic. What did survive was Perth's dominance: by 2015 they had reached three of the four finals played, and they would win four more titles over the next decade.