Match 17, Melbourne Stars v Sydney Thunder
Melbourne Stars 108/7 in 20 overs (Villani 52; Wong 2-19) beat Sydney Thunder 96/5 in 20 overs (Sharma 44; Garth 3-11) by 12 runs. Player of the Match: Kim Garth.
Kim Garth returned figures of 4-3-11-3 to help Melbourne Stars defend 109 against Sydney Thunder in Match 17 of the WBBL 2021 in Launceston. Garth was ably assisted by Annabel Sutherland (1-8), Erin Osborne, Linsey Smith and Sophie Day as they restricted the Thunder to 96/5. Deepti Sharma top-scored in this innings, with an unbeaten 48-ball 44.
Earlier, the Stars too struggled to reach 108/7. Elyse Villani scored 52 off 63 balls and Maia Bouchier made 31 off 28. The rest could not even reach double digits.
Match 18, Hobart Hurricanes v Brisbane Heat
Hobart Hurricanes 132/8 in 20 overs (Johnston 47; Jonassen 3-14) lost to Brisbane Heat 138/2 in 18.3 overs (Harris 57*; Carey 2-16) by 8 wickets with 9 balls to spare. Player of the Match: Grace Harris.
An unbroken 86-run stand between Grace Harris (57*) and Mikayla Hinkley (49*) steered Brisbane Heat to an eight-wicket win against Hobart Hurricanes in Match 18 of the competition.
Set 133, the Heat slipped from 52/0 to 52/2, courtesy Nicola Carey’s double strike in the eighth over. Harris and Hinkley held the fort from there, and reached the target with nine balls to spare.
Earlier, Ruth Johnston’s 47 and Molly Strano’s 24-ball 33 took the Hurricanes to 132/8 after they were asked to bat. Jess Jonassen and Courtney Grace Sippel picked up three wickets each.