Sarah Coyte hit the only ball she faced for four to give the Sydney Sixers a four-wicket win over the Brisbane Heat at Allan Border Field, after Ellyse Perry’s 58 off 38 had set up a chase of 155 that nearly came apart at the death.
Quick Score Summary
Brisbane Heat 5-154 (20 overs): Georgia Redmayne 58 (44), Charli Knott 57 (47), Annie O’Neil 18 (12). Sixers bowling: Ashleigh Gardner 2-25, Lauren Cheatle 1-31, Sarah Coyte 1-31, Caoimhe Bray 1-40, Amelia Kerr 0-25.
Sydney Sixers 6-157 (20 overs): Ellyse Perry 58 (38), Sophia Dunkley 37 (26), Alice Capsey 21* (14). Heat bowling: Sianna Ginger 2-31, Charli Knott 2-25, Sarah Glenn 1-16, Lucy Hamilton 0-38.
Result: Sydney Sixers won by four wickets (0 balls remaining). Toss: Sydney Sixers, elected to bowl. Player of the Match: Ellyse Perry.
Two needed off the last ball. Erin Burns had just been run out chasing a second run, Alice Capsey was stranded at the non-striker’s end, and Lucy Hamilton had turned a five-run final over into a genuine contest. Coyte met a full delivery and sent it wide of backward point to the rope. A late wobble, a tight finish and a true last-ball thriller to open both teams’ WBBL|12 campaigns on Friday night.
The Sixers won the toss and bowled, and the Heat’s start soured quickly. Grace Harris was given out caught behind by wicketkeeper Capsey off Lauren Cheatle for 3 in the third over, and she looked hard done by. It was unconvincing that she had hit the ball, and the questionable call left the Heat 1-20.
What followed was the best batting of the night. Charli Knott was proactive at the crease, moving around and forcing the Sixers’ bowlers to change their line and length rather than letting them settle. Her 57 off 47 included five fours and three sixes. At the other end, Georgia Redmayne doesn’t possess the power of some top-order T20 players, but her strike rate was deceptively good. Her 58 off 44 came from eight fours and relentless running, with 22 singles keeping the board moving. Together they added 97 and had the Heat 1-117 in the 15th over.
Then the Sixers found a way back. Knott was dropped by Amelia Kerr on the boundary off Ashleigh Gardner, but a few balls later she repeated the shot and Kerr held on. Orla Prendergast was bowled by Caoimhe Bray for a three-ball duck, Redmayne picked out Cheatle off Coyte, and Annie O’Neil’s lively 18 off 12 ended when Gardner had her caught by Bray. The Heat managed only 37 from their last 31 balls. Hamilton didn’t get to face many of them, but her unbeaten 8 off 5 suggested a bit of class with the bat. At 5-154 the total felt 10 to 15 short of what 1-117 had promised, yet it would very nearly be enough.
Gardner (2-25) was the Sixers’ best bowler, mixing pace and angle so well that only 25 came from her four overs. Bray looks stronger with another year of development behind her. She found good outswing shape with the new ball, but came a little undone in her last over, the 16th, which included three wides even though she bowled Prendergast in it, and she finished with 1-40. Kerr kept it tidy in her first few overs, conceding just six from her first two, before the Heat got after her later. Coyte’s 18th over cost only three runs and removed Redmayne, which was the over that really took the air out of the Heat’s finish.
The Sixers’ openers went hard at the chase. Sophia Dunkley drove fluently for 37 off 26 with six fours before a cross-bat drive off Sianna Ginger found Prendergast, ending a 53-run stand in the seventh over. Perry played the ever-reliable innings, with some shots of real class among her seven fours and a six, and added 50 with Kerr (18 off 20).
Hamilton bowled with lots of change-ups, and her middle overs are where the chase seemed to tilt. The Sixers were 1-78 after 11 overs, needing 77 from 54 balls. Hamilton’s two overs in that phase cost 23, and by the time Kerr was bowled by Ginger early in the 14th the score was 2-103. Her third over looked like the moment the chase swung the Sixers’ way.
Sarah Glenn and Ginger were the pick of the Heat bowlers. Glenn’s leg-spin was difficult to get away, costing just 16 from four overs, and she removed Gardner for 2. Ginger took 2-31, including the important wickets of Dunkley and Kerr. Then Perry played across the line and skied a ball from Knott to mid-off, out for 58, and when Knott had Eva Ragg caught soon after the Sixers had lost 4-27 and were 5-130 in the 18th over.
Capsey kept her head. Her unbeaten 21 off 14, with three fours, and a 23-run stand with Burns brought the target down to five from the final over. Hamilton, expensive earlier, was superb at the death. She got the equation down to three from two, Burns was run out on the fifth ball, and only Coyte’s nerve denied the Heat.
For the Sixers, two points and a reminder that their depth can win games when the top order doesn’t finish the job. Wibble Sports tipped them to finish second this season, and this was a start that fits, though losing 4-27 in the middle of a chase will be on the review list. For the Heat, the positives are real: Knott and Redmayne look a strong pairing, and Glenn and Ginger can strangle a chase. They lost this one in the last five overs of their innings as much as off the last ball.
Both teams are back in action on Sunday 1 November at Drummoyne Oval in Sydney: the Heat face the Sydney Thunder at 3.40pm AEDT, before the Sixers take on the Hobart Hurricanes at 7.10pm AEDT.
