Tammy Beaumont, Lauren Smith headline Sydney Thunder's first win

Put into bat first, Thunder needed a good start having suffered three back-to-back losses to start the tournament. In the company of Phoebe Litchfield, who made only 14, Beaumont added 33 for the opening wicket inside the first five overs. In the company of Amy Jones, Beaumont doubled the score in nine overs with Jones taking on Alana King to hit three consecutive boundaries with some luck.

However, Holly Ferling accounted for the England wicket-keeper, but that didn’t stop Beaumont’s flow and she found an able partner in skipper Rachael Haynes. Beaumont brought up her first fifty of WBBL08 with a four off Piepa Cleary. After reaching the landmark from 45 balls, Beaumont hit a few more boundaries to eventually finish on 77 not out off 59 balls.

But it was Olivia Porter’s six-ball cameo where she scored 17 including a six helped Thunder to a competitive total of 166 for four from the stipulated 20 overs.

For Scorchers, Marizanne Kapp was usual frugal self and even though she didn’t pick up any wicket, the South African pacer eventually gave away only 22 runs from her four overs when every other bowler went for more than seven an over.

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In the chase, despite starting with three boundaries in the opening over, Scorchers lost skipper Sophie Devine early with Sammy-Jo Johnson accounting for her. From there, spinners Samantha Bates and Smith took over and snared two more wickets in quick succession.

Smith picked up Chloe Piparo while Beth Mooney fell to Bates in the seventh over. With Lea Tahuhu removing Maddy Green for just three and Mathilda Carmichael becoming Smith’s second wicket, Scorchers were in all sorts of trouble at the end of the half-way stage with the score reading 48 for five.

With wickets falling at the other end, Kapp played a few shots and in the company of Amy Edgar added 37 runs for the sixth wicket. When Cleary and Lilly Mills gave Smith her five-wicket haul, Scorchers were reeling at 111 for nine.

Even as the match was lost long before, King wielded the long handle and smashed Johnson for two sixes in the final over. Ferling also joined her in the fun to hit the pace-bowling allrounder for another six. But the 22 runs from the last over wasn’t enough for the Perth side to overcome Heat’s net run rate.

For Thunder, Smith finished with enviable figures of 5 for 17 from her four overs.

Brief Scores: Sydney Thunder 166/4 in 20 overs (Tammy Beaumont 77*, Rachael Haynes 28; Alana King 1/22) beat Perth Scorchers 141/9 in 2o overs (Marizanne Kapp 32, Alana King 29*) by 25 runs POTM: Lauren Smith