An elegant and composed but high-stakes innings from Sam Whiteman has steered Fremantle out of a jam and to a fifth T20 title, defying powerhouse Subiaco-Floreat. Western Australia’s big-game player subjected the Lions to a second-straight grand final defeat with an unhurried 56 not out to chase down a target of 8-122 with two wickets and as many balls to spare. But it was almost a solo effort, with captain Chris Davenport and unlikely batting hero Ryan Van Kemenade the only other players to reach double figures as Melbourne Stars quick Nathan Coulter-Nile wreaked havoc on the chase. On a rapid-quick WACA Ground wicket, three-time Big Bash League champion Whiteman scored the bulk of his runs behind square, bar a brutal late over where he took Tim Massey for 16 runs, all but securing the win. It completed a perfect weekend of cricket for the Sheffield Shield captain, who scored a record-breaking 250 not out in a massive two-day score just 24 hours earlier. It was fellow State-contracted player Sam Greer that did the first-innings damage, claiming a power-play wicket, three catches and a remarkable boundary-line save to turn an almost-certain six off the last ball into a momentum-busting two. Son of a gun Jayden Goodwin jumped onto a short ball from Greer for four off the first ball he faced, but they were the only runs he scored before being squeezed up and chopping on trying to glide a ball to third. Ethan Petta battled for his 16-ball 12 before making the crucial mistake of running on a Whiteman misfield and departed in a flurry with Conor Moldrich and captain Geremy Fatouros. The injection of Coulter-Nile didn’t work, with the former Australian white-ball star batting five but holing out to cow-corner for three from a sluggish nine balls while his team was crying out for a cool head. WA-contracted bowler Michael Hart found his way to 20 striking just under 100 and Hansberry’s 24 featured a booming pull-shot which dispatched a Jack Kamarda ball onto the west bank. Coulter-Nile’s lethal spell of bowling up the top breathed life in the Lions’ bid for a maiden short-form title. Kyle Walsh was hit on the ribs by Hart and in a rollercoaster three-ball period, smoked a half-volley through the covers for four and skied a ball to be caught behind from the next two deliveries. Experienced opener Dan Kennedy was bowled by a spirited Coulter-Nile trying to access the off-side and Saturday centurion George Bartlett fell soon after, but around them an unfazed Whiteman steadied Fremantle’s ship. By the time the left-hander reached 20, they needed a mere five-an-over with singles readily available to a deep-set field and dot balls few and far between. Coulter-Nile was reinjected and the brutal bounce caught Fremantle Davenport out on 18, with Ben Tredget making a mad-dash to the 35-yard circle to take a remarkable snare. A measly spell from left-arm spinner Hansberry, worth just 17 runs, tied the innings over before the ex-international quick’s last over was deployed early, a move which garnered two more late-order runs as he finished with 4-20. But the heart-break moment was an unconvincing inside edge from tail-ender Van Kemenade, which trickled to the boundary beyond gloveman Tredget. Medium-pacer Moldrich hit the crease and squeezed a crucial yorker past Whiteman with the final ball of the penultimate over, stranding him at the non-striker’s end with eight runs to win. Van Kemenade toed a ball just over the finger-tips of Fatourous to start the final over and the ball trickled to the rope. The No. 10 became Whiteman’s unlikely batting accomplice when he drove a ball to the long-on fence to seal the win with two balls to spare. Sign up for our emails.