defeated a strong Perth Scorchers side in the opening match of the tournament. However, since then they have run in to rough weather and some indifferent performances that saw them succumb to third consecutive defeat in the tournament on Saturday (November 7). Heat are now placed at number five in the table with that solitary win to their name from six matches.
Georgia Redmayne, who played a 65-run knock in their defeat to Adelaide Strikers, said she wouldn’t read too much into the table now and believes that Heat have enough strength within their squad to reverse the momentum and make a dash for their title defense.
“We got off to a really good start in that first game, since then we've come close in a few and also certainly had a bit of problems with the weather. I think we've been unlucky in a few games kind of going up Duckworth Lewis and things like that,” Redmayne said at the post match video conference on Saturday (November 7).
“We've definitely shown that we have the belief that we can defend that title and we've got the skill within our group and the diversity in our bowling and that's apparent in our batting. I think it’s just trying to get it all to come together. It's quite a long tournament so I wouldn't read too much into the table at this point. There is plenty of cricket to go and I wouldn't write us off yet."
The wicket-keeper refused to blame the weather that saw two of their matches get washed out while another was truncated. Redmayne said the weather was out of their control and she hopes that it will no longer be too much of an issue going forward in the tournament. Redmayne added that she is hopeful that practice that they have been putting in will come in handy in the upcoming games.
“It's obviously not something that we can really do anything about and I think most of it is hopefully gone now,” she said. “It's certainly hard at the start of the tournament, not just for us, a lot of teams having lot of rain affected matches and shortened games.”
“We felt like in a lot of those games before the rain hit it, we were in a pretty good spot and felt like we were on top of the game. But that's cricket, that happens. But certainly, the shortened games don't help everyone try to get a bit of a go in the middle. But we're getting enough practice anyway so I can't really use that as an excuse at all.”
All eight teams are confined to the bio-bubble in the WBBL Village in Sydney Olympic Park and 26-year-old Redmayne feels all the teams in the competition are equally skilled, but the hub life can be mentally challenging and the teams that show enough physical and mental strength to get through it will emerge victorious in the end.
“It's a reflection of a whole lot of things just the way the game is evolving. People spend more time on their cricket (inside the hub) and the skills that is getting better and better and there's been player movements throughout a lot of different squads,” the opening batter added.
“The hub environment, playing in Sydney you get a bit of different pitches, North Sydney Oval is always one of the better batting we get. But playing on different grounds certainly makes the tournament a lot more even.”
“The hub life, it’s kind of mentally challenging at times but I think the team that gets through will definitely show quite a lot of physical and mental strength to get through to the end.”
Strikers’ young pacer Darcie Brown has been impressive throughout the competition so far with her quick bowling and played a big role in their win castling Heat’s skipper Jess Jonassen for just 3.
Katie Mack, who scored a match-winning fifty in Strikers’ 18-run win, believes the 17-year-old has been getting better through the course of the tournament and she will only go from strength to strength once she plays more matches and understands her game better.
“We've only had two full games. I think there's plenty more to come from her but yes, she bowled pretty well today,” Mack said. “She is actually just 16, means she can go a lot further. She's obviously bowling some pace. Once she matures a little bit and has probably a bit more of an idea of the game and the way to go about it she will only get better.”
“I had a great view I was out on the boundary out there so I got to say go for Mad's hands into the Tahlia’s hand and it was pretty special,” Mack said about the catch that Madeline Penna and Tahlia McGrath combined to pull off to get rid of Amelia Kerr in the eighteenth over of the chase.
“It’s definitely a crack catch; that definitely got the crowd going today. Moments like that kind of change the game a little bit and change the momentum. Definitely a lot of momentum shifts and it made it difficult with again new batters coming down the order to try to take the game on,” Redmayne concluded.
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