Sophie Devine took 2-18 with the ball and then blasted 55 off 24 balls as the Perth Scorchers chased down 137 with six wickets and 30 balls to spare against the Melbourne Stars at North Sydney Oval.
Quick Score Summary
Melbourne Stars 6-136 (20 overs): Meg Lanning 56 (46), Georgia Prestwidge 23* (11), Annabel Sutherland 14 (9). Scorchers bowling: Sophie Devine 2-18, Amy Edgar 2-33, Fatima Sana 1-33, Alana King 0-12, Chloe Ainsworth 0-13.
Perth Scorchers 4-137 (15 overs): Sophie Devine 55 (24), Beth Mooney 28 (24), Mikayla Hinkley 24* (19). Stars bowling: Sophie Day 2-34, Kim Garth 1-32, Annabel Sutherland 1-24.
Result: Perth Scorchers won by 6 wickets (30 balls remaining). Toss: Melbourne Stars, elected to bat. Player of the Match: Sophie Devine.
The contest was over the moment Sophie Devine sent Dani Gibson’s only over of the night sailing over midwicket. That massive six brought up a half-century from just 17 balls and left the Melbourne Stars’ 6-136 looking every bit as thin as it had felt at the innings break. When she finally mistimed one, the Scorchers needed 51 from 75 balls.
It capped a complete day for the veteran allrounder, who had already removed Annabel Sutherland and Meg Lanning with the ball. Player of the Match was never in doubt.
The Stars won the toss and batted, and their innings was Lanning and little else. She survived two early scares. On 9 she was given out lbw to Fatima Sana, who had swung one full and late into her as she tried to launch it to leg; Lanning reviewed straight away, a spike showed as the ball passed the bat, and the decision was overturned. On 16 she hit Devine to deep square leg, where Alana King came sliding in and spilled the chance.
Nobody could stay with her. Rhys McKenna (12) backed away to hit through the off side and lost the top of middle stump to Fatima Sana’s angle into the stumps. Amy Jones (4) was given lbw reverse-sweeping Amy Edgar, thought about a review and decided against it, and replays suggested a rough call, with the ball looking to miss leg. Sutherland (14 off 9) came down the pitch to Devine and was bowled through the gate by one that decked back in.
Naomi Stalenberg’s dismissal was the strangest of the night. Trying to sweep King, she managed only a glove, and the ball came to rest just behind her. Unsighted, she set off for a run, not realising Beth Mooney had trapped it under her foot; the Scorchers captain picked it up and took the stumps. Stumping or run out? The scorecard says run out. In the next over, Dani Gibson (3) top-edged a sweep off Edgar and King made amends for the drop, leaping backwards at short fine leg to take a fine catch above her head. The Stars were 5-95.
There was a pattern here. Jones, Stalenberg and Gibson all fell playing the sweep or reverse sweep, and Charlie Dean nearly joined them on 3, given lbw on one knee before her review found an under-edge. Against an attack that gave no width, the Stars kept reaching for the cross-bat, and kept paying for it.
Lanning’s 56 off 46 balls, with 10 fours, ended in frustrating fashion. Devine strayed down leg, Lanning swiped at it and found Chloe Piparo at fine leg. She walked off visibly annoyed at falling to a poor delivery. Georgia Prestwidge then gave the total some respectability with an unbeaten 23 off 11, including two sixes, as she and Dean (10 not out) added 31 from the last 17 balls.
Chloe Ainsworth was the pick despite going wicketless. Her two powerplay overs cost three runs, and she finished with 0-13 from three overs. King, drop aside, was just as miserly with 0-12 from four overs and 16 dot balls through the middle overs. At 6.8 an over, 136 was below par, and it would take very good bowling to defend.
That bowling never came. Sophie Day did strike early from around the wicket, with Katie Mack (2) setting up to cut a ball that simply slid on to the stumps. After that, Devine seemed determined to finish the game as quickly as possible, dishing out boundaries. Dean’s second over went for 18, and Devine and Mooney added 72 from just 31 balls for the second wicket. Devine’s 55 included eight fours and three sixes before Day, again from around the wicket, went full at the stumps and Devine ballooned it to Kim Garth at midwicket.
The Stars snatched two more wickets. Freya Kemp (2) charged Sutherland, was early on a slower ball and lost the top of off stump. Then Mooney (28 off 24) mistimed a Garth slower ball from around the wicket and was caught by Rhys McKenna at mid-on. But at 4-109 in the 11th over, the hard work was done. Mikayla Hinkley (24 not out) and Piparo (14 not out) nudged the Scorchers home in the 15th over.
This was the Scorchers’ second win over the Stars in a week, after they defended 124 at Junction Oval on 2 November with Devine taking 4-19. A side that can win both low-scoring scraps and run chases looks well set.
The Stars have positives: Lanning is in fine touch, Day took 2-34 and Garth’s slower balls caused problems. But they need someone to bat with their captain, and their middle order needs a better plan against spin than the sweep.
The Scorchers return to Perth to face the Sydney Thunder at the WACA Ground on Wednesday 11 November. The Stars host the Brisbane Heat at Junction Oval on Thursday 12 November.
