Melbourne Stars completed a dominating win versus the Sydney Sixers to finally get a victory in the tournament. Melbourne beat Sydney by 30 runs and received immense contributions from Annabel Sutherland who led the team to a score of 139. Sixers’ batting faltered since the beginning and the team never got going.
Yesterday, in the Preview piece it was written that the Stars may have to change the opening pairing of Elyse Vilani and Annabel Sutherland, suggesting that Annabel bats down the order. However, Annabel blew that piece to dust and turned up with a high-quality 57 runs inning. After Meg Lanning and Elyse Vilani fell early, she took it upon herself to rescue the innings.
The new arrival Maia Bouchier also showed tremendous determination and played a fantastic knock of 32 runs off 25 balls. After Sutherland fell to Gardner, Bouchier and Kim Garth ended the innings with a 51 runs partnership that took just 37 balls, propelling the team to a fighting total of 139.
Garth then turned the heat up with the ball and sniffed Shefali Verma for a duck. Alyssa Healy fell to Annabel while Ashleigh Gardner and Ellyse Perry had to build the innings. The Sixers lost the plot completely once Sophie Day got Gardner’s wicket at the score of 61. Perry tried to wrestle the control back but wickets kept tumbling and although she battled till the last over, the chase turned out to be out of grasp by then.
Perry did make 40 runs but took 43 balls, which has been a sign that she is not in her full flow yet. Meanwhile, Gardner made 31 runs off 33 balls. Garth bowled a scintillating spell, claiming three wickets for 17 runs. Tess Flintoff took two wickets, Linsey Smith, Annabel, and Sophia Day took one and no bowler conceded more than six runs per over. Sutherland won the Player of the Match for both her bowling and batting.