Perry dazzles in pink; Sydney Sixers rise to second in WBBL06 charts

One of the oldest clichés in cricket is 'catches win matches'. And when someone like Ellyse Perry is dropped off the very first ball of the match, it doesn’t do the opposition any good. On Wednesday (November 4) Brisbane Heat paid the price for that as they suffered a 24-run loss to Sydney Sixers in the ongoing Women’s Big Bash League at Blacktown International Sportspark.



Not only did Perry went on to make her maiden WBBL06 half-century but also took three wickets with the ball to dent the opposition's prospects.



Opting to bat first, Sixers made a flowing start with Alyssa Healy freeing her arms three times to the fence in the first two overs. However, her joy was shortlived, when she was stumped by Georgia Redmayne off a Nicola Hancock delivery in the fourth over for unlucky 13.



Ashleigh Gardner got the start hitting rival skipper Jess Jonassen for a couple of back-to-back boundaries but her joy was shortlived as she was clean bowled the very next ball. South African Marizanne Kapp joined her captain in the middle as the duo rebuild the innings slowly.



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The Perry-Kapp combo kept on rotating the strike to keep the scoreboard ticking picking up ones and twos with occasional boundaries. However, it was Jonassen again who put the brakes on with a double strike in the15th over. The left-arm spinner accounted for Kapp first, clean bowled, before accounting for Erin Burns for a golden duck. From 90 for 2, Sixers were soon reeling at 91 for 4 in no time.



Perry was finally dismissed for run-a-ball 54 with four hits to the fence as Sixers finished at 129/7 in 20 overs. Dane van Niekerk hit a few boundaries towards the end to take the score past the 120-run mark. Jonassen was the pick of the bowlers for Heat finishing with 4-0-28-4 while Hancock (2/16) also picked up two wickets.



It was also Jonassen’s fourth WBBL career four-wicket haul – the most by any. Van Niekerk, Sarah Aley and Molly Strano are the ones behind her with three each. Meanwhile, Perry was back in action as she dismantled the Heat top order with three scalps to her name defending a just above par-total. She first dismissed opener Maddy Green ripping her stumps through before scalping Georgia Redmayne in the same fashion.



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The 30-year-old, who celebrated her birthday just a day before, dismissed Grace Harris for her third of the night, thanks to some brilliant catching by Healy behind the stumps down the leg side. Perry also became the only player in the WBBL to score 50-plus runs and take two or more wickets in a match for most of the times -- five. With Heat reeling at 17 for 4, it was up to Jonassen again and the skipper stared on an aggressive nite hitting five boundaries in quick succession.



Gardner, who couldn't do much with the bat, compensated with the ball as she put the brakes on with two biggies in her first over itself. First, she accounted for Jonassen bringing a quickfire innings of 30 runs to an end before dismissing Delissa Kimmince three balls later for a duck. From thereon, Heat couldn't recover as they were eventually bowled out for 105 in 19 overs.



Brief scores: Sydney Sixers 129/7 in 20 overs (Ellyse Perry 54; Jess Jonassen 4-28) beat Brisbane Heat 105 all out in 19 overs (Jess Jonassen 30; Ellyse Perry 3-17, Ashleigh Gardner 3-21) by 24 runs. PoM: Ellyse Perry.