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WBBL round-up – Sophie Devine century; Harmanpreet Kaur stars; Darcie Brown hat-trick in vain

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criczine
October 25, 2021 · 3 minutes
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Devine destroyed Thunder with her third WBBL century. Harmanpreet took 2 for 17 and made 35 not out in Renegades’ win against Sixers while Brown’s effort wasn’t enough for Strikers

Perth Scorchers 2 for 186 (Devine 101, Mooney 65) beat Sydney Thunder 9 for 105 (Litchfield 24, King 4-11) by 81 runs

Sophie Devine became just the second player in WBBL history to plunder three centuries while Alana King took career-best figures as Perth Scorchers thrashed Sydney Thunder by 81 runs in Launceston.
Devine stole the show with devastating 101 from 60 balls including eight fours and six sixes. She shared an opening partnership of 173 with Beth Mooney, the second-highest stand in WBBL history and their second of more than 150, to put Thunder to the sword.

Devine was slow out of the blocks crawling to 19 off 20 at one stage but then exploded with slog-sweep after slog-sweep over the rope. She reached 50 off 32 balls and was dropped at deep square leg by Lauren Smith on 69. She showed no mercy thereafter motoring to a century from 58 balls. Mooney was also dropped on 50 and then struck three fours in the 19th over before falling to Issy Wong for 65. Devine finally holed out at deep midwicket with four balls left in the innings.

Thunder’s chase never threatened thanks to King. She ripped through the top order claiming four of the first six with some high-quality legspin to leave Thunder 6 for 62. Lisa Griffith also took 2 for 17 including the key wicket of Smriti Mandhana to start the rot. Phoebe Litchfield and Deepti Sharma were the only Thunder batters to pass 20.

Melbourne Renegades 3 for 120 (Jones 38, Yadav 1-12) beat Sydney Sixers 4 for 118 (Perry 50*, Kaur 2-17) by seven wickets

A superb all-round display from Harmanpreet Kaur helped Melbourne Renegades destroy Sydney Sixers by seven wickets in Launceston.
Harmanpreet took 2 for 17 including the prize scalps of Ashleigh Gardner and Alyssa Healy, before thumping 35 not out from 29 balls, including two massive back-to-back sixes to steer Renegades home with 18 balls to spare. Eve Jones made 38 in Renegades’ new opening partnership with Jemimah Rodrigues to break the back of the chase. Captain Sophie Molineux, who demoted herself down the batting order, also bowled beautifully taking 1 for 18 from her four overs, having Shafali Verma’s leading edge caught in the covers by Harmanpreet.
After Sixers lost their top order inside 4.1 overs, Ellyse Perry made 50 not out from 51 balls and shared an 80-run stand with Nicole Bolton (38 from 41). The pair, however, struggled for fluency having to rebuild after Sixers slumped to 3 for 12 on the back of Harmanpreet and Molineux strangling them in the powerplay.

Jones and Rodrigues showed no fear in the chase although Sixers did gift them some chances. Rodrigues was run out by Radha Yadav in a disastrous mix-up. Jones kept motoring, cracking four fours and a six in her 30-ball 38. Harmanpreet, having received a lifeline on 20, when Healy missed a straightforward stumping off Radha in the 16th over, then finished the job in the next over with two huge sixes off Gardner.

Brisbane Heat 5 for 104 (Voll 31*, Brown 3-28) beat Adelaide Strikers 4 for 99 (Wolvaardt 54, Jonassen 2-17) by five runs (11 overs-a-side)

Electrifying innings from Georgia Voll and Georgia Redmayne as well as some disciplined bowling from Heat held Strikers at bay despite a superb 54 from 30 balls from Laura Wolvaardt as Strikers fell just short chasing 105.
After all four matches were washed out on Saturday, the start of Sunday’s morning match at Invermay Park was delayed by rain again. The match was reduced to 11 overs per side.

Heat got off to a blistering start thanks to Redmayne who smashed four fours and a six in her 14-ball 28. But she holed out to deep square off Brown off the third-last ball of the powerplay with the total at 57. Ellie Johnston miscued the next ball to mid-on to make it two in two for Brown. That brought the dangerous Laura Kimmince to the crease for the hat-trick delivery. Brown bounced Kimmince first ball and she got a thick top edge trying to hook that carried all the way to deep fine leg where Wolvaardt held the catch to complete the hat-trick.

Heat kept their foot on the gas despite slumping to 4 for 57. Voll smashed 31 not out from 17 balls, including two sixes to lift the total to 5 for 104 from 11 overs.

Wolvaardt and Dane van Niekerk put on a 68-run opening stand in the chase but they were always behind the rate and the pressure eventually took its toll. Jess Jonassen took two wickets in two balls in the eighth over and Georgia Prestwidge did the same in the 10th. Strikers needed 18 from the final over but could only manage 12.

Alex Malcolm is an Associate Editor at ESPNcricinfo