Priest's ton lights up WBBL as Canes, Heat take points

Rachel Priest has hammered a century to lead the Hobart Hurricanes to their first win of the Weber WBBL season, as her side thrashed the Melbourne Stars by 63 runs.

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Priest struck an unbeaten 107 from just 68 balls, scoring 70 per cent of her team's total of 4-152, before Molly Strano (2-21) continued her outstanding start to the season and teenage spinner Ruth Johnston took 4-8 in 3.2 overs to bowl the Stars out for 89.

Stars skipper Meg Lanning elected to chase after winning the bat flip, not an unsurprising choice given both her and opener Elyse Villani's records batting second, and the relative inexperience of their bowling attack.

With former Australia off-spinner Erin Osborne again absent through injury, the green Stars attack had the upper hand early thanks to three outstanding pieces of fielding; first Annabel Sutherland took a crafty catch on the boundary to remove Hurricanes opener Johnston (2), before the allrounder struck twice with the ball to dismiss Mignon du Preez (1) and Richa Ghosh (2).

In trouble at 3-39, Priest wrested back the momentum with support from Nicola Carey (14) and Naomi Stalenberg (17no), before hitting the accelerator.

She cleared the boundary seven times in total – all of them over mid-wicket or long on – to bring up her first WBBL century from just 65 balls; as she and Stalenberg put on 35 runs from the final two overs to set the Stars a hefty 153.

The Stars were quickly on the back foot in reply when Strano, the league's all-time leading wicket-taker, had Elyse Villani (0) bunting a simple catch to mid-wicket, before she removed Sutherland (2) with her next over.

The Melbourne club's hopes rested on the shoulders of captain Lanning and English import Maia Bouchier, but neither could get going. Bouchier was brilliantly caught by Strano at deep mid-wicket for 10, while Lanning scratched her way to 25 before being bowled by third-gamer Johnston.

Kim Garth (13) was the Stars' next highest scorer, as they crumbled to be all out for 89 in the final over.

The Stars need to bounce back quickly ahead of Wednesday's showdown with the undefeated Sydney Sixers.

Heat turn tables on Scorchers in dominant display

Georgia Redmayne led the way with the bat before Poonam Yadav did the job with the ball, as Brisbane Heat bounced back to topple Perth Scorchers by 59 runs.

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In a rematch on Sunday's Super Over thriller, this time it was the Heat batting first, with Redmayne (59no from 52 balls) and opening partner Grace Harris (34 off 30) making an aggressive start before Scorchers captain Sophie Devine trapped the dangerous Harris lbw.

Georgia Voll (24 off 17) continued the aggression, before a middle-order wobble created by Heather Graham (2-15) and Alana King (1-25) saw the Heat lose 3-12 as Laura Kimmince (9), Anneke Bosch (3) and Mikayla Hinkley (2) departed in quick succession.

With an over to face, Heat skipper Jess Jonassen rode her luck, finding four consecutive boundaries as her six-ball 19no carried her team to 5-162.

Nicola Hancock gave the Heat a dream start when she removed Beth Mooney for a rare first-ball duck, and the Scorchers' task became all the more difficult when Hancock followed up with the wicket of Devine for 18, and Jonassen had star Sri Lankan Chamari Athapaththu (11) caught in the deep.

At 3-42 with their three biggest hitters back in the sheds, there was no recovery for the Scorchers, with Heather Graham (17) the next highest scorer as they were bowled out for 103 in 17.2 overs.

Hancock's fine spell was rewarded with 4-19, Harris finished with 3-16, and Poonam Yadav (1-15) was threatening throughout her four overs.

Keeper Redmayne remained in the thick of the action, claiming four catches and a stumping.