At just 16 years of age, Caoimhe Bray was the star of the Sydney Smash with an amazing hat-trick that left the Thunder rattled
Match Report:
ScorecardSixers dominate Smash as 16-year-old shines with hat-trick
The Sydney Sixers have claimed an important win over their cross-town rivals in the highlights-filled Sydney Smash at Drummoyne, headlined by a brilliant hat-trick from 16-year-old Caoimhe Bray.
The Sydney Sixers rising star needed to be told she'd taken a hat-trick as the young pacer added another WBBL highlight in a thumping derby defeat of the Thunder.
Bray took a wicket on the last ball of her second over and the first two of her next over in Sydney on Saturday, the third thanks to a fantastic diving catch at point from Erin Burns.
The excitement of that wicket may have been to blame for Bray and her teammates' poor maths, who were all shocked to hear of the feat when the ground announcer informed them over the speakers.
She took a classic catch earlier in this tournament and on Saturday finished with 4-15 from her four overs and the Thunder finished 8-118 chasing the Sixers' 9-142.
"It's pretty crazy ... I didn't realise; one of those weird ones that was at the end of the over," Bray said.
Maitlan Brown (2-18) was also effective on a night that favoured the bowlers but the Sixers will wait on scans for New Zealand allrounder Amelia Kerr, who injured her quad in the warm-up and was forced out of the game.
The Sixers had Sophie Dunkley (43 off 35) and Mady Villiers (24 not out) to thank for scraping together their total, while Alyssa Healy (26 off 15) threatened to explode.
Georgia Voll took the important wicket of Ellyse Perry early in the match to get the Thunder off on the right note, adding to her highlights reel with a bizarre tumble over the stumps while attempting a run-out.
But the Thunder's star-studded batting order failed to fire in reply, with Voll succumbing in the first over before her teammates steadily fell with little scoreboard return. 18-year-old debutant Lucy Finn (49 not out off 34 balls) was valiant in a losing cause after they'd fallen to 7-49.
Finn (1-27) also picked up Ashleigh Gardner's wicket but the Thunder joined Brisbane at 0-3 after the Heat fell to Hobart earlier on Saturday at Drummoyne Oval.
Weber WBBL|11 Standings
| Team | M | W | L | T | N/R | NRR | Ded. | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1
HUR
|
10 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0.662 | 0 | 15 |
|
2
SIX
|
10 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 1 | -0.313 | 0 | 13 |
|
3
SCO
|
10 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 0 | -0.132 | 0 | 12 |
|
4
STA
|
10 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0.629 | 0 | 11 |
|
5
REN
|
10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0.121 | 0 | 10 |
|
6
STR
|
10 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0.077 | 0 | 9 |
|
7
THU
|
10 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 1 | -0.124 | 0 | 9 |
|
8
HEA
|
10 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 1 | -0.869 | 0 | 1 |
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
T: Ties
N/R: No results
NRR: Net Run Rate
Ded.: Deductions
PTS: Total points