Melbourne Stars have started their WBBL02 campaign on a winning note by defeating the Sydney Thunder by six runs.
Match Report:
ScorecardMatch recap: Stars defeat Thunder
Match in a Tweet: Kaur’s late dash gives the Stars a scare but women in green prevail by six runs thanks to a flying start by Inglis.
The Score: Melbourne Stars 8-147 (Inglis 46, Lanning 33) defeated Sydney Thunder 4-140 (Kaur 47, Stalenberg 23) by six runs
The Hero: It takes some sort of innings to eclipse Meg Lanning but Emma Inglis' brutal innings overshadowed her skipper. The right hander hit the ball with enormous power as she found the ropes with consummate ease. Inglis used her bottom hand to great effect as she smashed anything that was remotely short to the leg-side boundary. Inglis' innings of 48 from 26 balls included eight thunderous fours and one massive six that landed on the roof. To put the icing on the cake, she also managed two beautiful stumpings off leg-spinner Alana King.
The Support Cast: The Megastar was in imperious touch once again showing why she is the best batter in the world. The Stars skipper showed her intent from the outset hammering off-spinner Samantha Bates over the fence in just the second over of the match. From then onwards it was Lanning at her majestic best as she drove, swept, flicked and pulled her way to 33 from 28 before losing her stumps.
Shot of the match: Emma Inglis showed she can match it with the very best when it comes to hitting big sixes. Facing Lauren Cheatle the Star opener dispatched a short ball by pivoting on her right leg and hitting the ball on the roof at North Sydney Oval.
Turning Point: With the required run rate rising, the well-set Stafanie Taylor (32 from 35) decided to run down the pitch and try to loft leg-spinner King out of the park. Unfortunately, the classy leggie spun one past her to have her stumped by a long way. It was a beautiful piece of bowling that changed the course of the game.
The Consolation Effort: We had heard plenty about the Indian allrounder Harmanpreet Kaur and she put on a clinic tonight with some classy stroke play. Kaur took her time initially reaching 10 from 10 balls before exploding in the final few overs hammering 37 from the next 18 balls to keep the Thunder in the hunt. But despite Kaur’s heroic innings – featuring five sweetly struck boundaries – the Thunder came up six runs short of a remarkable win.
Next stop: Both teams will have three-day break before going head to head again on Tuesday in Albury.