Lanning, Sutherland get Stars home in tight derby

Melbourne Stars have kept their season alive with a tense four-run win over the Renegades, after Meg Lanning and Annabel Sutherland starred with bat and ball respectively.

But the Renegades now appear at serious risk of claiming their second wooden spoon, as they fell to their ninth loss from 10 matches.

Lanning (67no) led the Stars to 5-144 at the CitiPower Centre in her second knock since announcing her international retirement on Thursday.

Dropped on 42, Lanning brought up her third half-century of WBBL|09 with a single to backward square leg in the 18th over.

The Stars switched up their opening combination again in the hopes of reigniting their flagging batting line-up, with England import Maia Bouchier joining Lanning.

The pair successfully navigated the power play – the first time the Stars have not lost wicket in the first four overs since their tournament opener – but after Bouchier fell on 17, Alice Capsey (23) and Sutherland (24) made starts but could not stay with their captain.

Sophia Dunkley’s rough season continued when she was caught on two.

Renegades internationals Tammy Beaumont (33), Harmanpreet Kaur (37) and Hayley Matthews (32) all made starts in reply but Sutherland (4-22) intervened at critical moments to remove all three.

The quick bowled Beaumount then had Kaur caught behind, but while Matthews remained, the Renegades looked in the box seat.

That changed when Sutherland struck again in the 18th over, removing the West Indies star and then Sarah Coyte (0) in consecutive balls to swing the momentum of see-sawing contest squarely into the Stars' favour.

Jess Duffin (5no) needed a six from the last ball of the final Sasha Moloney over to snatch a win that had looked likely at the mid-point of the Renegades innings.

But she could not find the rope past long off and the Stars held on as the Renegades finished at 6-140.

There is now a four-point gap between the seventh-placed Stars and the Renegades, who likely need to win at least two of their last four games to climb from the bottom of the ladder.

Weber WBBL|09 Standings

Team	Matches played M	Wins W	Losses L	Ties T	No results N/R	Net Run Rate NRR	Deductions Ded.	Total points PTS
1 Adelaide Strikers Women STR	14	11	3	0	0	1.154	0	22
2 Perth Scorchers Women SCO	14	8	6	0	0	0.784	0	16
3 Brisbane Heat Women HEA	14	8	6	0	0	0.203	0	16
4 Sydney Thunder Women THU	14	7	6	0	1	0.298	0	15
5 Sydney Sixers Women SIX	14	7	7	0	0	-0.253	0	14
6 Hobart Hurricanes Women HUR	14	6	7	0	1	-0.597	0	13
7 Melbourne Stars Women STA	14	6	8	0	0	-0.779	0	12
8 Melbourne Renegades Women REN	14	2	12	0	0	-0.978	0	4

Legend

M: Matches played

W: Wins

L: Losses

T: Ties

N/R: No results

NRR: Net Run Rate

Ded.: Deductions

PTS: Total points