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The Women’s Big Bash is back and the excitement of all games was clearly on show for cricket fans at North Sydney Oval across the two days with some great bowling, batting and fielding on show.
Opening weekend of the WBBL has brought so many things that we will talk about for the whole season, including a future star for the Southern Stars, an Indian rocket, as well as a batter whose ball-striking ability is being compared to even the best men’s players, as well as the usual Aussie stars such as Meg Lanning, Alyssa Healy and Ellyse Perry all bringing their best to the WBBL.
The WBBL started Saturday morning out on North Sydney Oval 2 and it was an 18-year-old who stole the show in the opening match for the Hurricanes with West Indian Hayley Matthews snaring the opening wicket of the match when she knocked over Australian international Elyse Villani cheaply.
Then, in the return innings, Matthews starred with the bat, scoring 48 runs and helping the Hurricanes to chase down the modest total of 119 with an over to spare to take a five-wicket win.
It wasn’t all doom and gloom for the Scorchers, though, with English international Katherine Brunt a worthy contender for the player of the match with an innings of 41 runs coming off just 24 deliveries and putting together a much-needed partnership with veteran Lauren Ebsary, as well as bowling her four overs for 1/21.
Game two and the first on the main North Sydney Oval pitch saw a low-scoring affair with neither the Strikers nor the Renegades managing to complete their full 20 overs after the Renegades won the toss and elected to bowl.
Like the opening match, the Strikers’ innings was never allowed to find any rhythm with wickets falling at regular intervals until an important knock of 43 from New Zealand international Sophie Devine, as well as her partnership with Strikers captain Tegan McPharlin, took them from 6-44 to 7-94.
The Strikers could only manage another eight runs before Devine fell and ended up being all out for just 116.
The Renegades’ run chase on paper looked easy and the stats were behind them to win with no team winning a match after being bowled out in the first innings. However their inability to put together partnerships and some poor running saw the Renegades falter and fail to chase down the target or finish their 20 overs.
The final match of day one was the clash between the defending champs the Sydney Thunder and the Melbourne Stars and this match did not lack excitement off the bat.
The Stars opened the batting with Australian captain Meg Lanning and Emma Inglis and it was all guns blazing for the openers with an opening stand of 79 runs from just 56 deliveries, including 46 of them for Inglis.
Soon after Inglis’ departure, Meg Lanning joined her opening partner in the sheds and it was the bowling of Nicola Carey and Erin Osborne who brought the Thunder right back into the game with three wickets apiece.
The Thunder required 148 runs to win and, like the Stars, it was a consistent start for the Sydney side with an opening partnership of 50 runs, although a slower run rate pushed the pressure on them.
Cheap wickets soon fell and the task soon looked too much for the Thunder, however their dynamite Indian batter, Harmanpreet Kaur, soon won herself some new fans after a big 54-run partnership with Naomi Stalenburg forced the result into the last over, but ultimately the task was too much and the Stars scraped home by 6 runs.
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