Lanning fifty in vain for Scorchers as Heat warm up

A Boxing Day clash at the Optus Stadium, Perth severed up a WBBL thriller. Taking top billing on the day the two teams soon put the low scoring encounter before out of the crowd’s mind. Brisbane Heat won by 5 wickets with 4 balls to spare to steal Meg Lanning’s thunder.

Lanning showed her undoubted class with yet another fifty against Brisbane Heat her fifth in a row against the Heat. Lanning looked the most in control of all the batters that took to the middle over the course of the day.

The Australian captain scored a 50 ball 70. The Heat were finding it difficult to find a way past Lanning who was confident of giving her side the best Christmas present. Along with Elyse Villani, the openers got the visitors off to the perfect start.

In the first five overs, both batters were finding the boundary with regularity; 7 fours came from the powerplay as the Scorchers raced to 0 for 47. Villani was the first to go for the Scorchers feathering one behind to Haidee Birkett for 23.

Amy Jones looked to finally middling the ball when she was caught and bowled by Jemma Barsby. Nicole Bolton was a judged lbw to her first ball to a ball that looked to pitch outside leg-stump.

Lanning was holding things together at the other end. The Heat bowlers started to bring back some control taking regular wickets. Birkett was the pick of the bowlers with 3 for 19. A total of 150 was possible for the Scorchers and Lanning was still there with two overs to go. When Lanning was run out for 70 the Scorchers could only muster 5 for 136 from their twenty overs.

The Heat openers proved how difficult it was to bat on this surface early on as Grace Harris and Beth Mooney had to work for their runs in the powerplay. Both were to fall with five balls of each other.

It brought Sammy-Jo Johnson and Jess Jonassen to the middle and their batting was suiting the job in hand. Johnson cleared the boundary with two sixes in her cameo of 17.

New to the crease was Josie Dooley making her debut; it took her a couple of balls to adjust to the situation but looked composed in her run a ball 13 before being bowled by Heather Graham.

Jonassen is an accomplished batter in her own right and it was her calm approach that took her to 28 and her team to a final over victory.