Ashleigh Gardner hammered 124 off 60 balls and took 3-23 as the Sydney Sixers climbed off the floor at 3-6 to post 8-196, then bowled out the defending champion Hobart Hurricanes for 109 with 14 balls to spare, winning by 87 runs at Drummoyne Oval.
Quick Score Summary
Sydney Sixers 8-196 (20 overs): Ashleigh Gardner 124 (60), Alice Capsey 54* (40), Ellyse Perry 3 (5). Hurricanes bowling: Nicola Carey 3-31, Molly Strano 2-32, Chinelle Henry 2-8, Heather Graham 1-44.
Hobart Hurricanes 10-109 (17.4 overs): Maddy Green 42* (33), Chinelle Henry 32 (20), Chamari Athapaththu 10 (13). Sixers bowling: Ashleigh Gardner 3-23, Melie Kerr 3-25, Caoimhe Bray 2-14, Lauren Cheatle 1-23.
Result: Sydney Sixers won by 87 runs (14 balls remaining). Toss: Hobart Hurricanes, elected to bowl. Player of the Match: Ashleigh Gardner.
At 3-6 in the third over, the Sixers’ Sunday night looked finished before it had started. Fifteen overs later Ashleigh Gardner walked off with 124 to her name, and the Hurricanes, the reigning champions and Wibble’s pick to top the ladder, were staring at a second straight loss.
Hobart won the toss, chose to bowl and got everything they wanted early. Sophia Dunkley fell for a duck to Chinelle Henry, another cross-batted shot at a ball that wasn’t quite short enough to pull, and Chamari Athapaththu took the catch at mid-on. Ellyse Perry (3) spooned Nicola Carey to Lauren Smith at cover. Then Henry dropped one short to Melie Kerr (1), who picked out Maddy Green in the deep just in front of square. Henry’s two overs cost eight runs and brought two wickets, and she didn’t bowl again.
Isabella Malgioglio, on WBBL debut, bowled her first over with real control, conceding three. What followed was carnage.
Gardner announced herself by depositing Hayley Silver-Holmes over midwicket for a six that landed out the back of the stands. From there she found the boundary with ease and trademark power, passing 50 before launching Molly Strano onto the roof of the grandstand. The boundaries flowed, the score threatened to blow out, and she brought up her hundred pumping the ball wherever she pleased. She finished with 10 fours and nine sixes, and a strike rate above 200.
The Hurricanes made it harder on themselves. Alice Capsey was dropped three times. On 21, Green at midwicket had a Mark Taylor moment off Heather Graham, bobbling it, kicking it up and still not holding on. On 24, a nick thudded into the outside of Lizelle Lee’s glove off Smith. On 38, Smith got fingers to a tough caught-and-bowled chance. Gardner had her own life on 119, skying Carey into the leg side where three fielders converged and Henry put down a catch that should have been taken.
Henry made amends five runs later, sliding in at wide mid-on to take Gardner off Graham for 124. The partnership was worth 176 for the fourth wicket. It was Gardner’s second WBBL century, almost nine years after her 114 in WBBL|03, and cricket.com.au rates it the second-highest score by any Sixers player across the men’s and women’s Big Bash, behind only Steve Smith’s 125 not out.
Then the innings fell apart a second time. The Sixers lost 5-7. Eva Ragg (3) was caught by Henry on the deep midwicket boundary off Carey, and Erin Burns was trapped in front first ball by the Hurricanes captain. Strano had Lauren Cheatle (1) miscuing to a diving Smith at cover, then Sarah Coyte for a golden duck, Smith again at cover, this time at head height. On a hat-trick, Strano saw teenager Caoimhe Bray play the ball back to mid-on with relative ease. Capsey, stranded off strike while the wickets tumbled, finally got her fifty and finished on 54 not out from 40. Carey (3-31) and Strano (2-32) dragged some respect back late.
Was 196 par? Gardner said afterwards, “I felt like this is a really good wicket.” Even so, it was a total built almost entirely by one partnership, and the Hurricanes needed their best chase of the summer. Kerr had the trainers out to strap a hamstring while batting, but she came out to field, so it looked no more than a slight niggle.
The chase never got going. Bray, 17, opened the bowling and again found good, consistent outswing. The start was slow and watchful, 17 without loss in the fifth over. Bray thought she had Athapaththu caught down the leg side. It was given not out, Gardner called for the review, and the technology showed nothing. Next ball, Athapaththu tried to skip down and hit over cover, and Burns took a diving catch. Rachel Trenaman was bowled by one that was full and moved away just enough to beat the outside of the bat. Bray finished with 2-14 from her four overs.
Gardner brought herself on and struck with her first ball, Lee sweeping around the corner straight to Cheatle at short fine leg. Five balls later Carey missed a reverse sweep and Gardner crashed into the top of off stump. When Graham charged Kerr, played all around it and lost her stumps, the Hurricanes were 5-26 and the chase was in disarray.
Henry and Green at least made a fight of it with 52 for the sixth wicket. Henry took to Kerr with trademark power drives, the over costing 19, and Bray put down a chance at cover as Henry went for another boundary. But Gardner returned to bowl Henry for 32 off 20, playing inside the line. Silver-Holmes was run out for 2 off the same over after good work from Bray and Kerr on the boundary, Gardner whipping the bails off. Strano went for a duck, caught by Perry at mid-on off Cheatle.
Green kept swinging, at one point smashing a Gardner full toss straight back at the bowler, who threw out a hand on instinct and deflected the ball into her own face. Lauren Smith (9) was caught by Perry on the long-on boundary off Kerr, and Malgioglio was bowled by a Kerr wrong’un to end it. Kerr took 3-25, so the hamstring clearly didn’t slow her. Green’s 42 not out from 33 was the sole bright spot of the Hurricanes’ batting.
The Sixers are 2-0, but the 3-6 start will nag at them. The top order has to fire on the nights when Gardner doesn’t. For Hobart, four dropped chances cost far more than the runs they conceded, and their top four managed 16 runs between them. Carey, Strano, Henry and Green all had good passages, and it is far too early to panic.
Still, honesty matters. Wibble tipped the Hurricanes to finish first and the Sixers second, and at 0-2 that call for the champions already looks shaky.
The Hurricanes are back home to face the Melbourne Renegades at Ninja Stadium on Wednesday, 4 November. The Sixers travel to the Junction Oval to play the Melbourne Stars on Friday, 6 November.
