“It’s frustrating… it feels like we’ve run out of steam a little bit, which is obviously annoying with the start to the season we’ve had,” Knight said. “We just lost momentum… form dipped a little bit and we looked a little tired. But I still think it’s a season the girls can be proud of.”

Thunder have won just five games in the last two seasons in a fall from grace since lifting the title in WBBL06. But under the new leadership of Knight and coach Lisa Keightley, who coached England from 2019 to 2022, the Thunder entered the season with an “underdog” mentality that served them well.

“It really helped us,” Knight said. “I think we have some talented young players…Olivia Porter and Anika [Learoyd] In the middle order they are developing and learning to play in different conditions.

“We actually play a lot in different conditions, which has been quite interesting to adapt to and adapt the captaincy, so it’s been quite fun.”

Athapaththu top-scored with 41 before succumbing to a short delivery from Courtney Sippel, who along with partner Nicola Hancock broke up the Thunder’s batting order.

“[We need to] “Make sure we’re able to execute our skills for a little bit longer,” Knight said. “I feel like we fought very well… [but need to not] put yourself in that position in the first place. We had to make up the games a little bit like [the Heat game]”.

As expectations grew, Thunder struggled to cope and were left to rue a loss to rival Sydney Sixers in their final regular season game that cost them second place and a home final in the Challenger.

“I think we just weren’t used to being on top…the mentality changes a little bit,” Knight said. “We probably lost a little bit of freedom, some people maybe got a little tense and I think it’s a very good learning experience.

“I think this team should believe that they should be in the top four. I think at the beginning of the season we definitely would have struggled to get to the final stages.”