Brisbane Heat beat Hobart Hurricanes by four wickets with 10 balls to spare at Allan Border Field on Saturday night, after 19-year-old Lily Bassingthwaighte’s 3-16 tore through the defending champions’ top order.
Quick Score Summary
Hobart Hurricanes 9-116 (20 overs): Rachel Trenaman 25 (33), Maddy Green 24 (22), Heather Graham 21 (23). Brisbane Heat bowling: Lily Bassingthwaighte 3-16, Lucy Hamilton 3-24, Orla Prendergast 2-14, Sarah Glenn 1-23.
Brisbane Heat 6-119 (18.2 overs): Annie O’Neil 32* (28), Grace Harris 24 (16), Yastika Bhatia 22 (23). Hobart Hurricanes bowling: Heather Graham 2-20, Lauren Smith 1-13, Chinelle Henry 1-21, Isabella Malgioglio 1-22.
Result: Brisbane Heat won by four wickets (10 balls remaining). Toss: Brisbane Heat, elected to bowl. Player of the Match: Lily Bassingthwaighte.
Two overs. That’s all it took for Lily Bassingthwaighte to decide this game. The teenage quick removed Lizelle Lee, Chamari Athapaththu and Kate Pelle in her first two overs, and from 3-13 the Hurricanes spent the rest of the night chasing the game.
The Heat won the toss and bowled, and the call paid off almost immediately. Lee went for 2, an outside half of the bat spooning it back to Bassingthwaighte for a good return catch. Next ball, from over the wicket, Bassingthwaighte shaped one perfectly back into the left-handed Athapaththu, who went for the drive and was bowled between bat and pad for a golden duck. Two balls into her next over, Pelle (9) skied a big drive towards cover and Charli Knott held a good, high catch.
At 3-13 the Hurricanes needed serious batting to post a competitive total. Rachel Trenaman and captain Heather Graham added 43, but slowly, and 3-53 at the halfway mark left plenty to do in the second ten overs.
The Hurricanes took the Power Surge, the two-over block when only two fielders can be outside the circle, straight after drinks in the 11th over. It brought 10 runs and another wicket. Lucy Hamilton came around the wicket and angled one back in; Graham stayed leg side to hit through the off side, missed, and was bowled for 21.
From there the innings unravelled. Trenaman stepped across to Sarah Glenn’s leg-spin and was bowled around her legs for 25. Chinelle Henry (1) tried to carve Orla Prendergast towards third man and edged to Georgia Redmayne, standing up to the stumps. Hayley Silver-Holmes (12) went for a lap off Hamilton and spooned it to Catherine White at short fine leg. Maddy Green, the one Hurricane to find real fluency with 24 off 22, picked out Grace Harris at deep midwicket off Prendergast, and Hamilton finished her haul by firing a full, straight ball into Lauren Smith’s middle stump first ball.
Hamilton’s low full toss to Molly Strano’s reverse sweep in the final over brought a Heat review, but impact was outside the line and the not-out call stood. Strano’s 9 not out took the visitors to 9-116.
That total was well below par, and the young Heat quicks were the reason. Bassingthwaighte, Hamilton and Prendergast (2-14) shared eight of the nine wickets, with Glenn squeezing the middle overs. The Hurricanes managed seven fours and no sixes; the Heat’s only blemish was 12 extras, eight of them wides.
The chase should have been a stroll, but the Heat made hard work of it. Knott (6) went early, chasing a short, wide ball from Henry with a cross-bat drive and edging it through to Lee. Harris then hit five fours in a brisk 24 off 16 and the Heat raced to 50 inside six overs. It ended when Isabella Malgioglio’s full leg-break drifted in a touch, dipped under the bat and bowled her. Prendergast (11) skipped down to Graham, missed, and lost the top of middle stump.
The 10th over was chaos. Yastika Bhatia had already survived on 16, given LBW sweeping at Strano before the review showed the ball missing leg stump. Then a mix-up in Smith’s over left Bhatia and Redmayne at the same end, and the Hurricanes completed a simple run-out of the Heat captain for 4. To add insult to injury, Redmayne appeared to be hobbling with a calf issue. Running between the wickets has not been a strength of Bhatia’s time at the Heat. Next ball, Smith trapped her in front for 22, and this time ball-tracking had it hitting middle and leg. Two wickets in two balls: 5-69.
Annie O’Neil should have followed on 6, slogging Malgioglio towards midwicket, but Pelle put down the chance. Hamilton (8) then mistimed a change-up from Graham and spooned it to Green at mid-off. At 6-89, with 28 needed from 34 balls, it was a tight game. Graham (2-20 from four overs) and Smith (1-13 from three) had the Hurricanes right back in it.
O’Neil made them pay for that drop. A flurry of boundaries, including a 14-run 16th over off Silver-Holmes, swung the momentum back the Heat’s way. With Sianna Ginger (10 not out) she put on an unbroken 30 from 24 balls, and finished on 32 not out from 28 with five fours.
For the Heat, it is back-to-back wins after Knott’s century against the Adelaide Strikers on Thursday ended a 706-day wait for a WBBL victory. The young pace attack is a genuine reason for optimism, but losing six wickets chasing 117 says the batting and running need work, and Redmayne’s fitness will be watched closely.
For the Hurricanes, it is four losses from four. Wibble Sports tipped them to top the ladder in our season preview, and at 0-4 that call looks shaky. Graham and Smith bowled well and they made the Heat sweat, but no batter passing 25 isn’t good enough for a side with this much top-order talent.
The Hurricanes host the Adelaide Strikers at Ninja Stadium on Tuesday 10 November, while the Heat take on the Melbourne Stars at Junction Oval on Thursday 12 November. The two sides then meet again at Ninja Stadium on Saturday 14 November.
