Melbourne Stars have surged back up the WBBL table this season and spinner Sophie Day is playing a leading role in their success
'You've got this': The message that turned around Day's season
Sophie Day has credited the faith placed in her by the Melbourne Stars' coaching staff for her outstanding Weber WBBL|11, as the Stars target second spot on the table.
The left-arm spinner currently sits second on the wickets table after nine matches, with 16 wickets at 9.31, and an economy rate of 6.67, to her name.
It's her second most prolific season with the ball since she broke into the Big Bash in 2020, second only to the 27 scalps she took in 14 games in WBBL|09, when she finished as the BKT Golden Arm.
Reflecting on her 2025-26 season thus far, Day revealed she had been frustrated leading into WBBL|11, after taking six wickets at 33 in Victoria's first four one-day games of the summer, and just two wickets at an average of 56 in the T20 Spring Challenge.
Melbourne Stars squad v Thunder: Annabel Sutherland (c), Sophie Day, Meg Lanning, Rhys McKenna, Georgia Prestwidge, Ella Hayward, Sophie Reid, Maia Bouchier, Maisy Gibson, Dani Gibson, Kim Garth, Amy Jones, Sasha Moloney
"I've really enjoyed working with Clint McKay, our bowling coach, particularly on angles and my approach to the crease and things like that," Day told cricket.com.au.
"I think I struggled a little bit at the start of the season, just to try find that rhythm and it really wasn't coming out how I'd like it.
"You always have your ups and your downs, and you have that doubt ... but from the very first training sessions, Clint came up to me and he goes, 'T20 cricket. This is you. You've got this. This is what we're going to work on. This is what I need from you'.
"And I think that confidence from him really rubs off, and I've absolutely loved working with him this season."
Since rediscovering her rhythm, Day has been a consistent performer throughout WBBL|11, helping to lead the Stars' resurgence up the table after they won just two games last season.
The 27-year-old has gone wicketless just once and claimed hauls of 4-17 and 3-7 in wins over the Hurricanes and Heat respectively.
"I've really enjoyed it ... we've got some great opening bowlers that set up the game nicely for us spinners to come through the middle," Day said.
"Then we've just got that many options as well, so we can jump around and bowl an over or two, and the batters never get comfortable with our bowling attack.
"It's a real team performance.
"We've been doing a lot of work on our fielding, our angles ... we've done a fair bit with Maxi (Glenn Maxwell), and he's really helped us out with that, and that's always nice as a bowler when you know you've got your fielders' support."
The Stars can all-but lock in second spot and the right to host The Challenger with a win over the Sydney Thunder in their final regular game on Saturday morning.
The Sydney Sixers would still be able to match them on 13 points, but the huge gulf in net run rate between the teams makes it hard for them to leapfrog the Stars, regardless of the result of their final game against the Strikers.
Sydney Thunder squad v Stars: Phoebe Litchfield (c), Em Arlott, Sam Bates, Ella Briscoe,Lucy Finn, Hasrat Gill, Laura Harris, Shabnim Ismail, Heather Knight, Anika Learoyd, Taneale Peschel, Georgia Voll, Tahlia Wilson
That would then leave the Stars one win away from the final, which will be hosted by the Hobart Hurricanes at Ninja Stadium on December 13.
"We don't think too far ahead ... it's actually flown by the season, that's for sure," Day said.
The Stars have named an unchanged squad for the match, where they will hope to turn around their defeat to the Sixers on Wednesday.
The Thunder meanwhile will be looking to end the season with a consolation win.
Weber WBBL|11 Standings
| Team | M | W | L | T | N/R | NRR | Ded. | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1
HUR
|
9 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.662 | 0 | 14 |
|
2
STA
|
9 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0.863 | 0 | 11 |
|
3
SIX
|
9 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 1 | -0.365 | 0 | 11 |
|
4
REN
|
10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0.121 | 0 | 10 |
|
5
SCO
|
9 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | -0.189 | 0 | 10 |
|
6
STR
|
8 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0.097 | 0 | 8 |
|
7
THU
|
9 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 1 | -0.296 | 0 | 7 |
|
8
HEA
|
9 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 1 | -0.944 | 0 | 1 |
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
T: Ties
N/R: No results
NRR: Net Run Rate
Ded.: Deductions
PTS: Total points