Brisbane Heat 134 for 6 (Knott 44*) beat Adelaide Strikers 133 for 5 (McGrath 51*) by four wickets
Brisbane Heat earned a modicum of revenge for their defeat in last season’s WBBL final by toppling defending champions Adelaide Strikers by four wickets in the opening game of the season. Having restricted Strikers to 133 for 5, Charli Knott controlled the chase with a crisp 44 off 30 balls although there was a late wobble when Megan Schutt claimed two wickets in three balls.
Grace Harris had laid a base for the chase before falling to superb caught and bowled by Jemma Barsby. When Lauren Winfield-Hill was bowled by Orla Prendergast, giving the Ireland allrounder her first wicket on debut, Strikers were back in the game but by the time Anesu Mushangwe struck with her first delivery – having been held back until the 16th over – the game was all-but done despite Schutt’s intervention.
Strikers had struggled for momentum with the bat: after the powerplay they were 39 for 1 (despite the fourth over, bowled by Sianna Ginger, costing 20) and at the halfway mark 59 for 2. Laura Wolvaardt had been given a life on 0 when Grace Harris spilled a chance at mid-on but couldn’t take advantage as she drove Shikha Pandey to mid-off where Jess Jonassen held on with a juggle.
Katie Mack and Tahlia McGrath lifted the tempo with a third-wicket stand of 53 off 41 balls but the middle order couldn’t kick on with overs 14 to 17 bringing just 14 runs. McGrath, who has struggled in T20s this year, brought up a 40-ball half-century. Pandey and Jonassen were outstanding with the ball as their combined eight overs brought 3 for 30 with 25 dot balls.
Sydney Sixers 179 for 7 (Perry 81, Bryce 36*, Wareham 3-26) beat Melbourne Renegades 178 for 8 (Wareham 61, Webb 43) by three wickets
Ellyse Perry trumped Georgia Wareham in the battle of two superb all-round efforts in the second match as Sydney Sixers started their new WBBL season with two points. They chased the target of 179 set by Melbourne Renegades, with Perry leading the way with 81 off only 38 balls.
With 11 fours, three sixes and a strike-rate of 213, Perry helped the Sixers raze down 121 runs off the target in 12 overs. When she fell to Wareham at the beginning of the 13th, Sarah Bryce‘s unbeaten 25-ball 36 took the Sixers home. Caoimhe Bray – age 15 years, 34 days – started the day as the WBBL’s youngest ever cricketer, and finished it with her cameo of 12 in five balls that included the winning runs in the 19th over. Wareham fell on the losing side but had the game’s best figures of 3 for 26 in three overs.
Wareham was equally impressive with the bat. Even though Renegades’ 178 for 8 proved not to be enough, it was Wareham’s 31-ball 61 at a strike rate of 197 that set Sixers a chase of nearly nine runs per over.
She walked in when Deandra Dottin was dismissed by Bray in the ninth over, and fell only on the last ball of the 20th over. Before her dismissal though, she had smacked Sophie Ecclestone for four, six, six in the final over to lift the team’s total. Her innings was complemented by opener Courtney Webb’s 43, but Emma de Broughe (19), Dottin (15) and the captain Sophie Molineux (17) failed to capitalise on their starts, proving costly on a good batting track.
Perth Scorchers 122 for 8 (Day 3-21) beat Melbourne Stars 109 (Mckeon 50, King 3-20) by 13 runs
Fast bowler Chloe Ainsworth picked up from her impressive returns in last season’s WBBL with two key wickets as Perth Scorchers defended what appeared to be an under-par 122 at the WACA.
Ainsworth produced a pair of superb off cutters to claim Meg Lanning and Annabel Sutherland after 17-year-old debutant Ines McKeon, who has previously played 16 T20Is for France, had given Stars a brisk start. But the game really turned for Scorchers when Marizanne Kapp was run out at the non-striker’s end from a deflection into the stumps by Alana King. From there, Stars lost 8 for 53.
King struck again the same over to trap Rhys McKenna lbw and then had McKeon stumped the ball after she reached fifty, which had included a monstrous straight six off King. Scorchers’ other spinners also played a key role while Carly Leeson held a sharp return catch from a powerfully struck drive by Kim Garth. Scorchers weren’t perfect in the field, including a missed stumping by Beth Mooney, and conceded 15 wides but still had enough runs.
Scorchers hadn’t found life easy with the bat, either. Mooney had laid a foundation before walking past one from left-arm spinner Sophie Day, last season’s leading wicket-taker, who claimed 3 for 21. Chloe Piparo made an important 23 off 19 balls – the highest strike-rate of the match.
