Allround Sydney Thunder topple Perth Scorchers; register third consecutive WBBL06 victory

When there are Heather Knight and Rachael Haynes in the middle, you don't fear much. They will take care of the situation, steady the innings and will eventually take the team out of the blues providing the bowlers something to fight with.



On Wednesday (November 4), a similar thing happened as they played a huge role in Sydney Thunder's 24-run victory over Perth Scorchers at the Blacktown International Sportspark. It was Thunder's third consecutive victory in the ongoing tournament, having beaten Brisbane Heat and Adelaide Strikers on the weekend.



Batting first on a bright sunny day, Thunder didn’t have the best of the starts. Piepa Cleary gave Scorchers the breakthrough dismissing Tammy Beaumont, caught plumb in front in the third over. Another opener Rachel Trenaman was out in the same fashion off Taneale Preshel an over later.



ALSO READ: Bowlers headline Hobart Hurricanes’ maiden victory in WBBL06



Sammy-Jo Johnson, who usually bats down the order, was sent up once again (in the form of pinch-hitter) but couldn’t do much as she was completely deceived by a Sarah Glenn delivery that came straight in and onto the stumps.



It was left for Knight and Haynes to do the rest. And they did bit by bit. Coming together in the fifth over, the duo added run-a-ball 30 runs in the next five before adding 40 runs in the following five. While the Scorchers bowlers pressed hard to keep a check on the flow of runs, Knight and Haynes batted intelligently finding the gaps with occasional hits to the fence.



Haynes danced down the track quite often hitting Glenn, Nicole Bolton, Graham over long-on boundaries. On the other end, Knight was the architect in hitting through the gaps, be it between the covers or between deep fine leg and deep square leg.



ALSO READ: Elyse Villani, Meg Lanning hand Melbourne Stars comprehensive victory



The England-Australia combo took 18 runs in Devine over comprising two fours and a six, the highest in the innings and added 108 runs for the fourth wicket before the right-handed Knight fell victim to Graham delivery caught by Bolton for 46-ball 57. It was the second, century partnership between the par in the tournament, the earlier being a 122-run stand against Adelaide Strikers a few days earlier.



Haynes hit a six in the final over to take the Thunder innings at 144 for 4. She finished at an unbeaten 61 off 51 balls. Glenn was the most economical of the bowling lot with figures 4-0-13-1. In reply, the Scorchers batters failed miserably losing both Devine and Megan Banting in the fifth over itself.



Opener Beth Mooney and Nicole Bolton tried to resurrect the innings with a 43-run third-wicket partnership. But with Bolton falling for 19, it triggered the collapse as Scorchers lost wickets at regular intervals. The scorecard looked like a mobile phone number as barring Mooney and Bolton, none could manage double digits.



With everyone 'coming and go' at the other end, Mooney held her fort but it was impossible for her to do the job alone. She was finally dismissed for 49-ball 61 with Scorchers ending their innings at 120 all out in 19.4 overs. Like the Brisbane Heat match, Samantha Bates was once again the pick of the bowlers for Thunder finishing with 4-0-9-3. She was ably supported by Johnson (2/25) and Knight (2/29).



Brief scores: Sydney Thunder 144/4 in 20 overs (Heather Knight 58, Rachael Haynes 61*) beat Perth Scorchers 120 all out in 19.4 overs (Beth Mooney 61, Samantha Bates 3/9) by 24 runs.