Reigning Champions Sydney Sixers Rain Sixes and take shine off the Melbourne Stars

It is not every day that someone outshines Ellyse Perry, and especially at the North Sydney Oval. Perry’s 91 from 49 balls would be the talking point usually. That doesn’t take into account the big-hitting of Ashleigh Gardner. Sydney Sixers opened their campaign with a comfortable 86 run victory.

Gardner the Australian all-rounder showed glimpses of what she is capable in the Women’s Ashes series. Today she showed that her potential is being turned into a real star player. She broke records on the way to the quickest hundred in the WBBL.

Melbourne Stars thought that they had got off to a great start when they saw off Alyssa Healy, the Australia wicket-keeper who had just been talking to the commentators with the player mic tried to smash Erin Osborne the experienced spinner over mid-wicket and was caught by Katie Mack.

All it did was bring in Gardner; who showed her intent by hitting an over from Hayleigh Brennan for 22 runs. It included f4 fours and a six. It wasn’t going to stop there. Gardner’s fifty was scored from just 22 balls.

It didn’t get any easier for the Stars when Anna Lanning dropped Gardner on 62. It would have given the Melbourne side hope of getting back into the game. The Sixers didn’t take their foot off the peddle and kept on finding the boundary with alarming regularity.

The only consolation for the Stars is that Gardner’s second fifty came from 25 balls. It was still enough for Gardner to score the fastest hundred in WBBL history. It was an innings that would only last another 4 balls. Gardner going for another six only found the safe hands of Alanna King.

Perry had been relatively quiet at this point, albeit still at a decent rate. It was now Perry’s turn to start hitting boundaries more regularly as she saw more of the strike. It a remarkable run of form with the bat Perry keeps scoring new highs. Her 91 not out from 49 balls is her highest in this format.

The highest team total in WBBL was set earlier in the day at the same ground by Sydney Thunder with 200 for 6. The Sixers past that score in the seventeenth over and finished on 242 for 4.

There was a concerning moment with just four balls of the Sixers innings left when Perry hit a massive six right into the crowd and hit a spectator. Perry immediately rushed over to the picket fence to check that spectator was alright. While it shook Perry up, she was still able to push the Sixers up to their imposing total.

It was a tough start for Kristen Beams as the Stars new captain. She replaces Meg Lanning who has left for Perth Scorchers. They not only missed her captaincy but having her to bat would have calmed a few nerves on the Stars bench.

With the number of runs scored at the North Sydney Oval, it meant while it was a tough ask to chase it wasn’t impossible. Lizelle Lee the South African international showed that the Stars were not going to go down with a fight.

Lee has scored a hundred on this ground for South Africa and looked to continue that form as she hit Gardner for 20 of the first over of the reply. Alana King looked to support her teammate and they put on 61 for the first wicket. After King departed Mignon du Preez soon followed as she was run out by Perry who fielding at mid-on had time to compose herself and make the crucial throw.

The pressure was begging to tell and Anna Lanning the new player in struggled to get the ball away and was eventually adjudged lbw to Dane van Niekerk the South African leg-spinner. It affected Lee as well who suddenly found the boundaries weren’t coming so freely.

Lee can feel aggrieved that she was given out lbw trying to push a ball to leg from Lauren Smith. When the television broadcast showed what Hawk-eye thought, it suggested that the ball was missing leg stump by some way. Lee equaled Gardner’s fast fifty and if she had been able to carry on the Stars had a chance however small.

It will be a worry to the competition that the Sydney Sixers have shown why they are favourites to retain the title.

 

Flash Scores:

Sydney Sixers 242/4 (A Gardner 114, E Osborne 2/33) beat Melbourne Stars 156/7 (L Lee 64, S Aley 2/30) by 86 runs.