Kapp's remarkable recovery from illness before WBBL final

Marizanne Kapp has revealed the extent of the illness she suffered in the lead-up to her Weber WBBL player-of-the-final performance, saying she did not train in the days leading into the clash.

Kapp hit a crucial 31 not out from 23 deliveries to help her team to 5-146 then played a key role in restricting the Strikers' top-order, taking 1-25 as the Scorchers claimed a 12-run win and their first WBBL title.

"I couldn't train this week, I was really sick," Kapp said on Sunday. "And I knew if I gave myself a few days that hopefully I'd be a bit better when the final came.

"Luckily, that happened, even though it was a massive struggle for me yesterday. But it was worth it at the end of the day."

Kapp was forced to sit out the 2020 T20 World Cup semi-final against Australia last year due to illness – watching from her hospital bed as the hosts claimed the rain-affected encounter – and the 31-year-old South Africa allrounder was determined not to miss another big match.

"On Monday when we travelled back from Adelaide, I wasn't feeling too great, and I woke up the next morning and I was so sick (for) three days … I didn't move out of my room," Kapp said.

"I knew today was going to be really tough especially with the heat as well.

"After batting I felt like I was going to pass out, I didn't feel well at all.

"(But) you don't play in finals a lot. I got pulled out of the World Cup semi-final … that's something that still hurts.

"So tonight, I wasn't going to do that again."

The fiery quick's display with ball in hand at Optus Stadium included a maiden bowled to her wife and Strikers opener Dane van Niekerk.

The pair had spoken of their competitive instincts when playing against one another leading into the game – particularly after Kapp took van Niekerk's wicket twice during the regular season – but Kapp said she tried to simply view her long-term partner as just another aggressive batter.

"When I'm out there I see her as another player, I know how dangerous she can be, so I knew I have to be at my best," Kapp said.

"But I don't I look at it as bowling at my wife at all, I just see another attacking batter that I need to try and get out or restrict."

Looking back at their campaign on Sunday, both Kapp and captain Sophie Devine pinpointed their two-run defeat to Hobart Hurricanes at the WACA Ground as the turning point of their season.

On that occasion the Scorchers needed only seven runs from the final over, but Hurricanes allrounder Nicola Carey was able to successfully defend the target.

"Throughout the competition, especially at the start, we were up and down," Kapp said.

"We would have a brilliant game and then we would just fall flat especially with the bat.

"But I feel like you need games like that throughout your season, that was a massive wake-up call for us, especially the batting department, and that certainly helped my game as well."

Devine echoed that sentiment, saying that following that game she noticed a shift in her middle-order, who were determined to show they could step up when their leader and fellow opener Mooney failed to fire.

"We choked, to be fair, on a run chase that we would bank ourselves on doing nine times out of 10," Devine said on Sunday.

"We did have a really hard look at ourselves and think how can we come back from it?

"And that probably was a bit of a turning point for us, I think the middle-order from that stage really kicked on.

"We saw again (last night), Chloe Piparo, Heather Graham and Kappie as well, were outstanding – so sometimes I guess you get that kick up the bum halfway through a season."