05:50 AM UTC: Melbourne Stars vs Syndey Sixers
Meg Lanning’s Melbourne Stars will take on Ellyse Perry-led Sydney Sixers. Stars lost their first two encounters while Sixers came on top in both of their fixtures so far. The teams last met in the WBBL opener during a rain-shorted game and the Sixers beat Stars by six wickets.
The Sixers look in top form and both the openers, Alyssa Healy, and Shefali Verman have cracked a half-century each, both match-winning innings. In terms of bowlers, Ashleigh Gardner comes off a one for 16 runs spell and provides both control and destructive abilities. Perry hasn’t been on-song with the bat but still remains an impact player, notching two wickets for nine runs in her last spell.
Spinner Radha Yadav also is a dangerous spin option while Nicole Bolton, Maitlin Brown, and Stella Campbell form a deep bowling attack along with Perry and Gardner. The strength of the team lies in having all-rounders like Gardner and Perry, thus having a strong opening and middle-order batting lineup.
Stars bowlers have taken heavy punishment in two games now, first Healy had the measure of them and then the flamboyant Rachel Priest smoked them in her 107 runs effort. Annabel Sutherland comes off two wickets for 22 runs outing, doing her job well, while Tess Flintoff also had a strong one-wicket for 23 runs game. However, the bowling is yet to show its depth and more is required from bowlers like Kim Garth.
Annabel hasn’t worked well in the opening role with Elyse Vilani and the Stars might change that combination soon. The batting order of Vilani, Meg Lanning, Maia Bouchier, Kim Garth, and Anna Lanning, doesn’t have the same depth as the Sixers, but on their day, both Vilani and Lanning can single-handedly take the game away. The Sixers come in with an advantage but never sleep on the Meg-led team.