Kerr's WBBL best, Redmayne's commanding half-century help Heat hand Thunder second loss

Opting to bat after winning the toss, Thunder’s experiment of sending Sammy-Jo Johnson to open the batting along with Tammy Beaumont didn’t pay off. On the 13^th ball of the innings, Georgia Prestwidge trapped her LBW and Johnson walked back for just two.

Heather Knight then got going smoothly with a couple of drives through the off side for four and it seemed as if the English captain would continue to strut her stuff, like she has through WBBL06, and carry Thunder to a tall total. She made her intentions clear with a clean strike off Jess Jonassen that cleared the ropes and had moved to 23 off just 11 balls.

But Kerr had other plans. The young Kiwi struck off her very first over, trapping Knight in front of the sticks for 25 after she missed her attempted sweep. In her next over, she tossed one up and trapped Rachael Haynes LBW, after the southpaw went back to a ball she should have come forward to. On the last ball of that over, a mix-up between a promising Phoebe Litchfield and Beaumont saw the latter run out.

At the halfway stage, Thunder were four down for just 48 and would perhaps have been questioning their call to bat first. Their misery would have only compounded in the next over when Litchfield failed to pick a wrong ‘un and was out stumped. But Rachel Trenaman, who came in at six, kept the scorecard ticking with her strokes and running between the wicket. She added 34 for the sixth wicket with Tahlia Wilson (11), who played a Kerr delivery on to her stumps to become her fourth victim.

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But Trenaman’s 27 from 30 balls helped Thunder get to 111. For Heat, apart from Kerr, Courtney Sippel returned two for 17 in her spell.

In reply, Grace Harris’ dismissal off Samantha Bates would have brought back memories of Heat’s previous clash against Thunder. The explosive batter danced down to a tossed up ball and holed out to long on for four in the second over. Georgia Redmayne was then joined by Jess Jonassen, who swept Bates for a four in her knock of 10 runs from 15 balls. But her stay in the middle came to an end when she miscued one towards mid-on where Haynes took a good catch, timing her jump.

A steady Redmayne then got good company in Georgia Voll (31 not out), along with whom, she added an undefeated 83 runs for the third wicket. The left-hander then got to her sixth WBBL fifty, her second in this edition. The mammoth partnership was enough for Heat to cruise home and move a place up to sixth on the points table.

Brief Scores: Sydney Thunder 111/9 in 20 overs (Rachel Trenaman 27, Heather Knight 25; Amelia Kerr 4/20) lost to Brisbane Heat 115/2 in 16.3 overs (Georgia Redmayne 59*, Georgia Voll 31; Sammy-Jo Johnson 1/24, Samantha Bates 1/25) by eight wickets. PoTM: Amelia Kerr