Charli Knott’s maiden WBBL century, 104 off 61 balls, carried the Brisbane Heat to 4-184 and a 14-run win over the Adelaide Strikers at Drummoyne Oval, with Laura Wolvaardt’s 75 and Madeline Penna’s 68 not quite enough to haul in the target.
Quick Score Summary
Brisbane Heat 4-184 (20 overs): Charli Knott 104 (61), Grace Harris 22 (18), Orla Prendergast 16* (6), Yastika Bhatia 16 (18). Strikers bowling: Sophie Ecclestone 1-18, Eleanor Larosa 1-48, Megan Schutt 0-36.
Adelaide Strikers 5-170 (20 overs): Laura Wolvaardt 75 (48), Madeline Penna 68 (45), Tahlia McGrath 13 (16). Heat bowling: Sarah Glenn 2-19, Grace Harris 2-19, Lucy Hamilton 1-26, Sianna Ginger 0-41.
Result: Brisbane Heat won by 14 runs. Toss: Adelaide Strikers, elected to bowl. Player of the Match: Charli Knott.
The moment that could have changed everything came early. On 33, Knott lofted Amanda-Jade Wellington towards mid-on, and Tahlia McGrath, diving to her left, grassed the chance. The ball ran away to the boundary. Knott went on to make 104, her first WBBL hundred, and the Strikers spent the rest of the afternoon chasing the runs that one drop cost them.
Sent in after McGrath won the toss and bowled, the Heat started steadily rather than spectacularly. Megan Schutt wasn’t getting her trademark exaggerated inswing, and without that early movement the Heat openers could settle; her four overs went for 36. Knott and Grace Harris put on 57 for the first wicket before Harris (22 off 18) went to hit Eleanor Larosa down the ground. The ball came off the inside half of the bat, flew only halfway to the boundary, and Maia Bouchier took the catch.
Sophie Ecclestone was the pick of the Strikers’ attack. She trapped Georgia Redmayne in front for 7 at the start of the 12th over and finished with 1-18 from her four, the only Strikers bowler to concede fewer than six an over. At 2-89 after 11 overs, the Heat looked headed for something close to par.
Then Knott took over. Having reached her fifty, she moved up through the gears, finding the gaps and clearing the rope with some really good shots, and her strike rate began to race. She reached three figures from just 56 balls and finished with 12 fours and four sixes. At the other end Yastika Bhatia was struggling to find rhythm and timing (16 off 18), but it hardly mattered: their stand was worth 65 from 40 balls, and Knott made 49 of them.
The innings ended in a mix-up. In the 18th over Knott was halfway down the pitch looking for a second run when Bhatia sent her back, and she was run out for 104. Three balls later Bhatia was gone too, hitting Wellington straight to McGrath at mid-off, setting off for a single and watching the Strikers captain hit the stumps at the bowler’s end with a direct throw.
The last word belonged to the Heat’s lower order. Larosa’s first two overs cost just eight runs and brought the wicket of Harris, but her last two went for 40, including 23 off the final over, as Annie O’Neil (13 not out off 7) and Orla Prendergast (16 not out off 6) added 28 unbroken from 11 balls. That’s part of a young bowler’s learning journey: the death overs against set, swinging batters are where the hardest lessons come. On a good Drummoyne surface 4-184 wasn’t out of reach, but it was a big ask.
The chase began with a blow. Bouchier, who had faced four balls without scoring, hit Lucy Hamilton’s first ball to O’Neil and was gone for a duck. Wolvaardt had already been flying, though: she had all 34 runs at that point, from 15 balls, after Lily Bassingthwaighte’s two opening overs went for 29.
McGrath couldn’t turn the start into momentum. On 13 off 16 she tried a reverse sweep against Sarah Glenn and could only guide it straight to Bhatia, who took the catch. Wolvaardt and Penna kept the score ticking along, but steady wasn’t enough. At 2-91 after 12 overs the Strikers needed 94 from 48 balls, with the required rate rising towards 12 an over. They had to go, and they took the Power Surge, the two-over block in which only two fielders are allowed outside the circle.
Penna’s power hitting gave them a real chance. She took to Sianna Ginger’s third over, the 14th, which cost 27 including two no-balls and a wide. Suddenly it was 2-129 and 56 needed from 36.
Glenn brought the Heat back. First ball of the 17th, Wolvaardt skied one to cover, and Knott, who also bowled four tidy overs for 26, took the catch to end a fine innings of 75 off 48 with nine fours. Glenn finished with 2-19 from her four, the spell that won the game for the Heat. In the next over Grace Harris bowled Bridget Patterson for 4 as she backed away to hit through the off side, knocking out middle stump.
Penna kept smashing them everywhere, but the Strikers just couldn’t get to the required rate. She fell to the final ball of the match, caught by Ginger on the mid-on boundary off Harris for 68 off 45 with seven fours and four sixes. Harris finished with 2-19 from her two overs.
For the Heat, who went winless through WBBL|11, this is the kind of win that changes how a season feels. Knott’s hundred, which earned her Player of the Match, takes her to 177 runs from three innings this summer, and she’s showing she can build an innings as well as finish one. Glenn’s control in the middle overs was just as important as the big hitting.
The Strikers will rue the drop on 33 and an expensive back end with the ball. But there are positives: Wolvaardt has followed her unbeaten 70 in the opener with another big score, Penna showed she can take a game deep, and Ecclestone was outstanding. Chasing 185, they got within 14.
The Heat host the Hobart Hurricanes at Allan Border Field on Saturday, 7 November, while the Strikers face the Melbourne Renegades at the CitiPower Centre (Junction Oval) on the same day.
