The Perth Scorchers stayed unbeaten in WBBL|12 with a 17-run win over the Sydney Thunder at Drummoyne Oval. Beth Mooney carried her bat for 80, then Alana King ripped through the tail to bowl the Thunder out for 166 with six balls left.
Quick Score Summary
Perth Scorchers 3-183 (20 overs): Beth Mooney 80* (55), Sophie Devine 42 retired out (39), Freya Kemp 30 (10). Sydney Thunder bowling: Jemma Barsby 1-18, Hannah Darlington 1-34, Sam Bates 0-25.
Sydney Thunder 10-166 (19 overs): Phoebe Litchfield 34 (19), Laura Harris 29 (12), Heather Knight 27 (26). Perth Scorchers bowling: Alana King 4-35, Chloe Ainsworth 2-24, Sophie Devine 2-31, Fatima Sana 1-15, Amy Edgar 1-22.
Result: Perth Scorchers won by 17 runs (6 balls remaining). Toss: Sydney Thunder, elected to bowl. Player of the Match: Beth Mooney.
For a few overs on Thursday night, the Thunder had the Scorchers worried. Laura Harris and Tahlia Wilson took 35 off the Power Surge, the two-over block of fielding restrictions the batting side can call in the back half of the innings. A chase that looked gone at 5-101 had become 40 needed from 26 balls.
Then Mooney turned back to King. Reintroduced for the 16th over, the leg-spinner bowled Harris (29 off 12) as she went for the slog sweep and missed. Harris had given the Thunder a chance, and King took it away.
King’s final over, the 19th, finished the job. Hannah Darlington stepped back to pull and was bowled, Jemma Barsby picked out Freya Kemp at mid-off, and Sam Bates was bowled first ball. Three wickets for three runs, and figures of 4-35.
The night started painfully for the Thunder. Wicketkeeper Tahlia Wilson dislocated her middle finger keeping to Bates in the first over. The trainers put it back in and she carried on, sharp enough in the sixth over to stump Katie Mack (10 off 15), who skipped down at Barsby and missed. Barsby’s 1-18 from three overs was the best of the Thunder attack.
Lauren Bell’s first two overs were untidy, costing 20 with four wides. Phoebe Litchfield also burned the Thunder’s review early, sending upstairs an lbw shout from Bell against Mooney that had pitched outside leg stump.
Mooney and Sophie Devine then settled in for an 85-run second-wicket stand, keeping the rate above seven an over. Devine landed some heavy blows, but they came in bursts, and her 42 took 39 balls. She was dropped on 36 when she pulled Nadine de Klerk to long-on and Georgia Voll put it down.
Mooney was the class of the night. She was strong square of the wicket and through the cover to mid-off region, and her half-century extended her own WBBL record to 49. Bell, diving, could not hold a tough chance when Mooney cut Darlington on 66.
At the start of the 17th over, with the Scorchers 1-136, Devine retired herself to bring in a hitter. Mooney said afterwards that sometimes it just doesn’t come off, and “Soph recognised that”. It was a selfless call, and it worked.
Kemp smashed 30 off 10 balls with three sixes. She should have gone on 16, when de Klerk at long-off grabbed a Bell slower ball against the rope, lost it, and watched it drop over for six. Voll finally caught her running around from mid-on, off a Darlington change-up.
The Scorchers took 47 off the last three overs to finish 3-183, a run rate above nine. It was a well-built innings, steady through the middle, with the power hitting saved for the end. The three dropped catches were worth 34 more runs, and in the end the Thunder lost by 17.
The chase began as badly as possible. Chloe Ainsworth angled her first ball in full, and Voll played around it and was bowled for a golden duck.
The Thunder hit back quickly. Fatima Sana left the field in the third over after her knee dug into the turf while fielding, and while she was off, Anika Learoyd (22 off 16) and Litchfield kept the score moving. Learoyd then stepped across to Devine and was given lbw. She considered a review but walked, and replays suggested the ball was missing leg stump.
Litchfield and Heather Knight added 45 off 27 balls. But Litchfield (34 off 19) stepped across to scoop Ainsworth and found Amy Edgar at short fine leg. In the next over Sana, back on the field since the sixth over, trapped de Klerk attempting a paddle. De Klerk reviewed; the decision stood.
At drinks the Thunder needed about 95 from 60 balls. That was gettable, but it needed both batters at the crease to go big. Ainsworth (2-24) was the problem, tough to get away and threatening every over.
Knight (27 off 26) charged Devine, missed, and Mooney completed the stumping. That brought Harris to the crease, and her surge with Wilson (25 off 19) got the Thunder back in the hunt. Wilson was caught at deep wicket by Mikayla Friday off Edgar soon after Harris fell, and King did the rest.
The Thunder fought their way into a position to chase down a big total. The lower order could not finish it, and the dropped catches made the target bigger than it needed to be. There are still positives: Litchfield’s tempo, Harris’s hitting and Wilson’s grit with a damaged finger.
The Scorchers go to the top of the table with three wins from three. Wibble Sports tipped the Thunder to finish third, and one loss to the competition leaders does not change that. They were in this game until the 19th over.
Both teams play at North Sydney Oval on Sunday 8 November: the Thunder in a derby against the Sydney Sixers, and the Scorchers against the Melbourne Stars. Then they meet again at the WACA Ground on Wednesday 11 November.
