Georgia Redmayne headlines Heat's second win; all-round Hurricanes thump Thunder

At the Great Barrier Reef Arena in Mackay, Grace Harris marked her presence by striking three boundaries in the first over. Redmayne survived an early hiccup, while trying to steer the ball towards the first slip, when she was dropped by Josie Dooley. She seized the opportunity and together with Harris gave Heat a rollicking start.

The pair surged to their respective fifties and brought up the highest-ever partnership of 164 runs for Heat. Renegades’ Shabnim Ismail broke the stand. However, the start meant Heat posted a mammoth total of 180 on the board as Redmayne remained unbeaten even as she missed out on her century by a couple runs.

In the second innings, Heat continued the momentum with their bowling. Hancock got the big scalp of Renegades skipper Sophie Molineux. Hayley Mathews along with Evelyn Jones tried to consolidate the innings. However, the West Indies skipper fell to a stunning catch by Harris when she was on 35 off just 19.

Renegades stayed with the required run rate for a while. However with the regular fall of wickets, their chase was rocked. With 54 required off the final four overs, Heat’s meticulous bowling and fielding display strangled the Renegades’ batting lineup. Eventually Heat romped home to their second consecutive win despite some impressive hitting at the backend by Carly Leeson.

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Elsewhere in Sydney, skipper Elyse Villani and Lizella Lee began the innings strongly for the Hurricanes. Sydney Thunder dropped a few catches in the power play before Samantha Bates bowled a struggling Villani for 14. Thunder tried to build on the pressure but Lee continued her attacking strokeplay and hit the first maximum of the innings. As she was closing in on her half-century, Lauren Smith sent the former South African international back to the pavilion with an off-break.

Hurricanes took the power surge but Thunder didn’t give them any leniency to raise the run rate. With boundaries difficult come by, Hurricanes middle order pushed for singles and twos. They finished with a total of 144 for the loss of seven wickets, the highest team score at the Blacktown Oval this season.

For Thunder, Sammy-Jo Johnson was the most successful bowler with three wickets to her name.

Thunder had a slow and circumspect start to their innings. They fell into trouble early with Hayley Jensen dismissing Tammy Beaumont and Amy Jones in the same over. Phoebe Litchfield tried to break the shackles with a few strokes. The southpaw was going great until Molly Strano stepped in to take her wicket. Thunder Captain Rachael Haynes tried to accelerate the scoring rate but was caught at long-on for 16 off 22 balls.

In the end, Olivia Porter and Johnson showed some intent to swing the momentum in Thunder’s favour. However, disciplined performance from the Hurricanes bowlers guided the Tasman side to their second. With them succumbing to their third defeat from as many matches, Thunder are now at the bottom of the table.

Brief Scores:

Brisbane Heat 180/1 in 20 overs (Georgia Redmayne 98*, Grace Harris 65; Shabnim Ismail 1/31) beat Melbourne Renegades 159/6 in 20 overs (Hayley Matthews 35, Carly Leeson 34; Amelia Kerr 2/27) by 21 runs POTM: Georgia Redmayne

Hobart Hurricanes 144/7 in 20 overs (Lizelle Lee 41, Ruth Johnston 27; Sammy-Jo Johnson 3/34) beat Sydney Thunder 95/10 in 18.1 overs (Phoebe Litchfield 28; Hayley Jensen 2/13, Heather Graham 2/13) by 49 runs POTM: Lizelle Lee