Voll takes Thunder to record-breaking WBBL win
Scott Bailey |
Sydney Thunder recruit Georgia Voll has enjoyed the finest day of her career, leading her side to their biggest win with a 64-run smashing of Adelaide.
In a record-breaking blitz at North Sydney Oval, Voll’s 92 from 55 balls helped the Thunder smash their previous highest total with 5-212.
Spinner Sam Bates then claimed career-best figures of 4-21 from her four overs as the Strikers collapsed to be all out for 148.
The result marked the Thunder’s most emphatic victory in the competition’s 10-year history, and their second win in three games to start the year.
Two-time defending-champions Adelaide are now 1-2 to start the summer, in the shortened 19-game season.
And Voll was the star on Friday for the Thunder, in just the 21-year-old’s third WBBL match since moving from Brisbane.
Brought to the Thunder on a three-year deal with the chance to open, the Queenslander smashed three sixes and 12 fours in her knock.
It was only her second half-century in 61 WBBL games, but offered a glimpse of what is possible at the top of the order.
Asked if that was her best knock, Voll replied: “Definitely.”
“I’ve been up and down the order, so it’s nice to be settled at the top of the order, play my role really well and have the backing to play my shots,” she said.
“It was nice to be able to bat for a long time because I got out quite cheaply in the first couple of games.”
Voll slog-swept Megan Schutt for one six early on, pulled Darcie Brown for another, and put spinner Anesu Mushangwe deep onto the North Sydney hill.
The right-hander looked set for a maiden century before picking out Amanda-Jade Wellington at short fine-leg while trying to scoop Orla Prendergast.
Voll’s runs came in 54-run opening stand with Chamari Athapaththu, before she and Phoebe Litchfield combined for a 96-run second-wicket stand off 52 balls.
Litchfield also peppered the leg boundary in her 49, while bringing her creative strokeplay with a typical mix of scoops and reverse sweeps.
The pair at one stage added six boundaries in seven balls, taking the game away from the Strikers.
Heather Knight hit 28 from 15 late on as the Thunder romped past their previous high total of 204 and to the third best score of any side in WBBL history.
In reply, Adelaide were barely in the contest.
Only Katie Mack’s 51 held the innings together early, as Shabnim Ismail took 3-18 before Bates ran through the middle and lower order.
AAP