05:05 AM UTC: Sydney Thunder vs Melbourne Stars
A struggling Sydney Thunder outfit will meet the Melbourne Stars for another Women’s Big Bash League tussle. Thunder has lost all four games so far while the Stars are also not faring well with two wins and three losses.
Meg Lanning’s struggles, Bouchier’s incredible form
Meg Lanning is known as one of the best batters to ever play the game. However, she has not been able to fire this season. She has made scores of 3, 6, 10, 25*, 23 in the last five games and has not given stability to the order. Elyse Villani has regained form but the opening pair of Villani and Sutherland has not shown the required vigil. Meanwhile, Maia Bouchier has rescued the innings in the last three games with innings of 42, 31, 32*, showing her ability to play under pressure.
The bowling has been better for the Stars with Kim Garth being their wicket-taking specialist. Annabel Sutherland has also been largely impressive and both Sophie Day and Linsey Smith have been impressive in spurts. However, Erin Osborne and Tess Flintoff will need to tighten up a bit.
Thunder has big-time issues
Sydney Thunder has not made any headways this season. Mandhane did play a cracking 44-ball 64 runs innings. The rest of the batting has been severely underwhelming. Wilson, Jo-Johnson, Litchfield, Leorayd, and Smith have been largely no-show and for some reason, Deepti Sharma has not been utilized well, coming into the game well after things have slipped out of the hand.
In terms of bowling, seamer Issy Wong has displayed her inexperience at times, being up-and-down mostly. Deepti Sharma has given some control in the middle but Hannah Darlington has not achieved substantial gains yet. Lauren Smith is also inconsistent but Samantha Bates has shown some promise. More is needed out of both the batters and ballers from Thunder’s perspective.
