Renegades tweakers rout Thunder, boost title defence
Dave Lyall and Ian Chadband |
A quality four-pronged spin attack has propelled the Melbourne Renegades to a thumping eight-wicket win over Sydney Thunder after bowling them out for just 64 at Drummoyne Oval.
And on a fine Sunday for Melbourne’s WBBL-title challenging teams, the Stars then downed Brisbane Heat by 18 runs in the late game at Allan Border Field off the back of a dazzling allround performance from their South African star Marizanne Kapp.
Chasing a miserly 65 for victory in Sydney, the champion Renegades hit the winning runs on the first ball of the 12th over, but the victory had been set up earlier when their quartet of tweakers demolished a meek Thunder batting line-up.
Charis Bekker (2-14), Georgia Wareham (3-12), skipper Sophie Molineux (1-8) and Englishwoman Alice Capsey (2-12) bowled stump to stump and took wickets at regular intervals, assisted by some poor shot choices by Thunder’s batters.
Molineux opened in the chase and finished unbeaten on 29 (22), finishing alongside player-of-the-match Capsey 24 (20) as they reached 2-68.
In the first innings the Renegades were on top right from the opening ball, restricting Thunder to 2-19 in the power play, and when in-form opener Tahlia Wilson became crafty left-arm orthodox spinner Bekker’s second wicket, the home side were struggling at 3-21.
By the end of the 10th over they were in even more trouble at 5-48. England captain Heather Knight appeared their only hope of getting anywhere near triple figures, but when she fell LBW to Wareham for 20 (24), topping 100 was never on the cards.
Their 64-run total was the third-lowest in the competition’s 11-season history.
Thunder star Georgia Voll, who struck consecutive boundaries before being dismissed by Milly Illingworth for 9 (7), wasn’t making excuses.
“That’s obviously not what we rocked up here thinking that was going to happen,” Voll said on the player mic during the broadcast.
“Obviously it’s pretty disappointing, to be honest.
“(The wicket) was a little bit tacky early on, but I don’t think it was enough to be rolled for 65 probably, just some poor shots all around and not adapting to the conditions quick enough.”
The win sees the Gades jump into outright second on the WBBL ladder with four wins from their opening six matches, now just two points behind competition leaders, the Hobart Hurricanes.
In third are the Stars, who after the in-form Meg Lanning fell for a brisk 13 including a six and a four in Brisbane, were reliant on a dazzling 93no off 51 balls from Kapp, who struck five sixes in her breathtaking knock to help propel them to 8-171 after Annabel Sutherland had elected to bat.
The Heat never quite got to grips with their chase, despite 31 off 22 balls from opener Charli Knott and 24 off 17 from keeper Georgia Redmayne, with Kapp (2-31) dismissing both when they were threatening.
Sophie Day (3-28) had a big night too, chipping in with the key wickets of Grace Harris for 16 and Jess Jonassen for 15 as the Heat could only muster 9-153.
AAP
