Faltum’s best leads Melbourne Renegades to gripping derby victory

Melbourne Renegades 170 for 6 (Faltum 66*, Wareham 34) beat Melbourne Stars 161 for 8 (McKenna 34) by nine runs

Nicole Faltum‘s career-best innings and Sarah Coyte‘s ice-cool bowling at the death steered Melbourne Renegades to an important nine-run WBBL win over local rivals Melbourne Stars.

Faltum blasted an unbeaten 66 from 42 balls to lift the Renegades to 170 for 6 in the second game of Friday’s double-header at the MCG.

The wicketkeeper then stumped Stars opener Yastika Bhatia off left-armer Charis Bekker as the Renegades restricted their opponents to 161 for 8 although it became close in the closing stages.

Renegades strangled the Stars early in their run chase, with Hayley Matthews and Deandra Dottin playing a key role. But Rhys McKenna and Tess Flintoff threatened to pull off a fightback with some quick scoring before Coyte removed both Stars batters in the penultimate over. It left Stars with 18 to win off the last six balls and Matthews closed it out.

The result gave Renegades a positive 5-3 record in second spot on the ladder, while Stars are in danger of missing the finals at 2-4.

Faltum walked to the crease with the Renegades struggling at 48 for 5 in the eighth over and put on 67 for the sixth wicket with Georgia Wareham. She added another 55 from just 22 balls with Georgia Prestwidge. It set a new WBBL record for runs added after the fall of the fifth wicket.

Those efforts helped Renegades pull off another impressive win just four days after reaching a target of 186 away to Adelaide Strikers.

“There is just this belief amongst the group that we can win from anywhere,” Faltum said. “We didn’t win our first two games but we still believed that we were right on task. Once you win the belief comes, but I think we had it before then. We’re just really hoping that we can go all the way.”