Melbourne Renegades beat Hobart Hurricanes by six wickets and four balls to spare. Batting first, Hobart could only muster up 121 runs, succumbing to the spin bowling of the Renegades. In reply, Melbourne played cautiously and nailed the target in 19.2 overs with six wickets in hand.
In the Hurricanes innings, Priest and Johnston had 21 runs and 20 runs at the top but couldn’t accelerate the tempo. Only Richa Ghosh looked comfortable, making 21 runs off 14 balls before her compatriot Harmanpreet Kaur had her wicket. Naomi Stalenberg did a decent job, scoring 28 runs off 27 balls but got run out. Hobart lost the last four wickets for just six runs that surely affected the result. Georgia Wareham scooped up three wickets for 13 while Sophie Molineux finished with a two for 12 runs spell to headline the bowling effort.
When Renegades came to bat, Sophie Molineux fell at the score of 22. However, Jemimah Rodrigues and Courtney Webb batted with caution, adding 68 runs for the second wicket. Rodrigues fell after making 33 runs off 34 balls as Vakarewa had her caught and just two balls later, Webb also fell to Vakarewa after making 31 off 35 balls. Eve Jones didn’t last long either and fell when Hobart needed 26 runs in 24 balls.
Harmanpreet Kaur didn’t waste any time in settling down and took her team home after playing a 19-ball 24 runs knock. It felt as if Melbourne got 10-15 runs less in the bag and could have done better if the team played more specialist spinners. However, Vakarewa came up with a two for 21 runs spell and tried to keep the Hurricanes alive in the match. Meanwhile, Georgia Wareham won the Player of the Match for her superb spell.
