Sunday, 3 January 2016

Women’s Big Bash League match review: Melbourne Stars v. Melbourne Renegades at Melbourne



Winning the toss, captain Meg Lanning sent her Melbourne Stars in to bat. After having set the women’s circuit alight with seven best-on-grounds in seven matches, she proceeded to be dismissed for two, edging a defensive shot to wicketkeeper Erica Kershaw.

Without their talismanic captain, the Stars’ top order collapsed in a heap. Natalie Sciver and Emma Inglis were bowled in consecutive balls by South African pacewoman Shabnim Ismail, while Lanning’s opening partner Katie Mack was caught l.b.w. playing across the line. All of a sudden, the hosts were 4 for 8.

Needing to steady the ship, Mignon du Preez and Kelly Applebee accumulated singles, constantly rotating the strike. The green machine were 4 for 15 at the end of the powerplay, and du Preez broke through for the first boundary of the afternoon in the eleventh over. The breakthrough for the Renegades’ attack came in the next, when Applebee was caught behind off the bowling of Dane van Niekerk, ending a solid thirty-five-run partnership.

New Zealander Hayley Jensen came in and was soon picked off by a Molly Strano caught-and-bowled; it was the third of the off-spinner’s five wickets. Du Preez built another partnership with Tasmanian tailender Kristen Beams; the Northern Transvaal right-hander survived a stumping appeal in the fifteenth over before being caught at mid-wicket in the nineteenth. Beams and Gemma Triscari would fall to Strano in the final over, the Stars finishing on 9 for 85.

Emma Kearney opened the Stars’ bowling with Triscari. The latter bowled a maiden in the second over, and runs were hard to come by until van Niekerk began hitting over the top in the fourth. The South African was stumped in the next over, her replacement Kris Britt combining well with opening partner Sophie Molineux.

Eighteen runs later, Britt was herself stumped on the final ball of the tenth over, leaving the Renegades 2 for 31. Staffordshire all-rounder Danni Wyatt was the next batter in, and lifted her side with her aggressive running between the wickets and her toughness in shaking off a knock to the back of the head occasioned by one of Molineux’s straight drives.

The pair began ticking off the runs, with singles, twos, and fours; the Docklanders would hit five fours to the Jolimonters’ three. At the top of the sixteenth over, Molineux was run out dashing back to the non-striker’s end, ending a fine innings of thirty from forty-six deliveries.

Renegades’ captain Sarah Elliott would be the next batter run out failing to keep up with Wyatt, her wicket bringing the pocket rocket Ismail to the crease. The required run rate trended downwards: 24 from 24, 12 from 12, five from six. Ismail was defeated in the last over by a fabulous Triscari throw from point; the score at this juncture was 5 for 83. But a wide and two more singles was all the Renegades needed, Wyatt finishing on an unbeaten twenty-three.

This was the sort of match that demonstrated what T20 cricket can be: intelligent, tactical, and highlighted by good fielding and running between wickets. With eight fours and no sixes (due in part to the M.C.G.’s expansive dimensions), this was small ball cricket, cricket as it should be.

Melbourne Stars 9/85 (20 overs) (Mignon du Preez 36; Kristen Beams 14; Molly Strano 5/15; Shabnim Ismail 3/10) – Melbourne Renegades 5/86 (19.5 overs) (Sophie Molineux 30; Danni Wyatt 23*; Natalie Sciver 1/7; Kristen Beams 1/19)

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