The Brisbane Heat will face the Adelaide Strikers in the final
Brisbane win, which wasn’t unexpected, but the Renegades should have run them closer. Six wickets down with two overs left looks closer than it was. Melbourne suffered the loss of Danni Wyatt and Tammy Beaumont, but made enough runs anyway. Or it should have been enough, with Brisbane’s bowlers collared late and unable to break through in the middle. But the Renegades bowled and fielded atrociously through the first Powerplay and gave away 70 runs for the opening partnership without one of the league’s biggest stars, Beth Mooney, even having to do much.
For Brisbane’s part, they were ruthless. When both openers fell in consecutive balls, other teams might have been rattled. But Jonassen and Grace Harris kept the foot down, and got their team close enough that the result was never really in doubt.
Brisbane won last year, now they’ll try to go back to back. Adelaide have the player of the year in Sophie Devine, and should be a sterner test than Melbourne were today. We’ll have that game for you tomorrow on the Guardian’s over-by-over report. Till then.
18th over: Brisbane Heat 166-6 (Johnson 6, Short 4) Carly Leeson was supposed to have the dubious honour of conceding the winning runs, but she picks up Grace Harris first. Kirby Short comes in, the skipper, and after a few nervous dots and a single to Johnson, Short cuts four through cover point to seal the win!
Wicket! Grace Harris c Wareham b Leeson 42 (27 balls)
Another late one for the Gades! What they could have done if they hadn’t conceded so many in the first five or six overs. Leeson isn’t expecting much, but Harris lofts her down the ground to a catch at long-on.
17th over: Brisbane Heat 160-5 (Grace Harris 42, Johnson 5) What an eventful over from Kershaw. Mostly full tosses. The overruled wicket. The other wicket. Some near boundaries that aren’t collared properly. Then when she lands her last ball on the pitch, Harris sweeps it for four! Life, hey. A boundary needed to win it.
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Wicket! Kerr c Webb b Kershaw 3 (4 balls)
I’ll try to catch you up here. Erica Kershaw on to bowl, just to wrong-foot everyone and she has Grace Harris caught at deep midwicket! Off a high full toss. The umpires check the replay for no-ball though, and rule it illegitimate. I’m not sure about that: it was above waist high when Harris made contact, but it was dipping sharply and would have been below that height when it reached the body. Anyway, she’s reprieved, then when Kershaw lands one of her leg-breaks, Kerr slices it to point.
16th over: Brisbane Heat 151-4 (Grace Harris 41, Kerr 1) Strano’s spell ends with 4 for 28. She’s done her part, but her teammates have left her down.
Wicket! Laura Harris b Strano 0 (2 balls)
Two in three balls now for Strano! The Harris sisters are only together in the middle for a moment, as Laura gets down and tries to sweep and misses. She would be plumb lbw, but she’s saved from that fate as the ball trickles back between her legs and bowls her.
Wicket! Jonassen b Strano 38
Too little too late, but Strano lands this one gorgeously. From around the wicket, it dips, lands on the crease and gets under Jonassen’s shot. Hitting the stumps helps. “Stop bowling full tosses,” was Jess Duffin’s answer on the player mic a few overs ago when asked what her bowlers needed to do to get back in the game.
15th over: Brisbane Heat 149-2 (Jonassen 38, Grace Harris 40) Well, when you’re hot you’re hot. Wareham flights a leg-break beautifully. It dips on Harris. It lands well short of her. Harris follows through with the shot anyway. She has no right to make contact. Certainly not to control it. But somehow she drives it on the up, meeting it at around hip height, and skyscrapers it down the ground for six. Next ball, fuller, more conventionally swept for six more! Harris is mauling the Renegades now. Brisbane are 15 runs from the final.
14th over: Brisbane Heat 134-2 (Jonassen 36, Grace Harris 27) Lea Tahuhu. Nearly drags an over back. Bowls four dots. A couple of leg byes from another. But Harris is confident, and the one short ball is nailed on the pull for four.
13th over: Brisbane Heat 128-2 (Jonassen 36, Grace Harris 23) Leeson. Length. Jonassen under it. Say no more. Six over midwicket. Jonassen’s journey as a top-tier batting talent began with her 99 in the Canterbury Ashes Test of 2015. That’s when she showed she could be more than a lower-order type. She’s usually still stuck down there for Australia, but has made matchwinning runs often in the past few years. But rarely has she made powerful fast runs like she has this WBBL season. Her evolution is fascinating. Grace enjoyed that from the far end, then enjoys it even more when she gets on strike and cracks six of her own over midwicket. A full toss. They only need 36 now from seven overs.
12th over: Brisbane Heat 113-2 (Jonassen 29, Grace Harris 15) How often would Harris be the junior player in a partnership? She was the first to ever make a Big Bash hundred back in the first season. She’s got 4 to Jonassen’s 24 now, and make that 25 as Jonassen works a single. Harris fixes that now, dragging six over midwicket! Powerful hitter. Atapattu the bowler, with her offies. Goes with a wider line next ball and Harris cuts four! Flicks square, wants a second but can’t get back. No matter, Jonassen goes over cover for four more. 16 from the over. Barely a run a ball needed for 51 from 48.
11th over: Brisbane Heat 97-2 (Jonassen 24, Grace Harris 4) Carly Leeson on to bowl, an interesting action, head down and a tangle of limbs and hair. A couple of singles are a decent start, then Jonassen lifts her over wide long-on for six! Wareham down on the rope is leaping like a salmon, trying to get fingertips on that, but it just carries her. Timing from Jonassen, who is not a heavily built of powerful player, but has a lovely eye. The Heat are on track. 67 from 54 needed.
10th over: Brisbane Heat 86-2 (Jonassen 15, Grace Harris 2) Jonassen has been batting beautifully this whole season. Shows that touch against Strano, just gliding her with the left-hander’s angle for two behind point. Driving two wide of mid-off. Lofting on the bounce to long-off.
9th over: Brisbane Heat 80-2 (Jonassen 10, Grace Harris 1) It helps build a new stand when you get a big full toss. Floated up from Wareham, and Jonassen puts it away. Lands them better thereafter, but JJ drags away a streaky boundary through midwicket from the last ball of the over. Not letting up.
8th over: Brisbane Heat 70-2 (Jonassen 1, Grace Harris 0) Jonassen survives the hat-trick ball from Strano, but suddenly Brisbane have to form a new partnership. The fast opening stand though has still left them in best position.
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WICKET! Mooney c Leeson b Strano 15 (18 balls)
That’s the first thing they needed to do just that. Two in two balls! The batters crossed so Mooney was on strike. She lofts Strano down the ground, straight to long-off!
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WICKET! Green c Wareham b Strano 46 (29 balls)
At last for the Renegades, a wicket! Maddy Green has done a huge job for her team. Molly Strano buys the wicket in the end. A massive six down the ground, four more from the outside edge, then finally Green goes once too often and clouts the ball miles into the air but Wareham settles under it to take the catch.
Brisbane need 95 off 74, a comparatively modest ask. Can Melbourne try to pull back control?
7th over: Brisbane Heat 59-0 (Mooney 15, Green 36) With the Powerplay done, Wareham the leg-spinner from country Vic is on strike. Did her job and more with the bat, but the Renegades need her even more with the ball. It’s been a disaster so far and they have to pull something from the fire. Nice loop and flight from Wareham, landing them well, but there’s another mistake in the field. Anna Lanning running around at long-off reaches the ball but lets it through her hands for four. More charity runs.
6th over: Brisbane Heat 50-0 (Mooney 13, Green 30) The near misses keep coming for Green. A little glove that falls short of the keeper, an attempted loft that skews up high but just clears mid-on and plugs. Tahuhu keeps Mooney quiet in between times, round the wicket to the left-hander to do her for bounce.
5th over: Brisbane Heat 45-0 (Mooney 11, Green 26) Clean hitting from Green so far today. Maitlan Brown bowls length on her pads, Green gets under it and clouts it into the midwicket gap for four. A few singles and it’s 8 more from the over.
4th over: Brisbane Heat 37-0 (Mooney 9, Green 20) Tahuhu, zeroing in on the pads, tangling up Green. Scrambles a single. Atapattu came flying in to attack that ball, trying to impose herself on the game. Mooney strikes nicely to cover but it’s well stopped. Then more overthrows! Four of them! That’s horrible backing up at fine leg, it might have been Kershaw there. Mooney chops to point, sets off, Green would have been short at the striker’s end by a distance, but the throw misses and there’s no one at backward point to stop the boundary. Plus the run the batters took, that makes it a five. Then another wide from Tahuhu, the Renegades are just donating runs. The final ball is top-edged by Green to deep third, where Kerhshaw tries to make amends by diving and taking a hard fall to stop the boundary. Good effort, but a horrible start from the Gades all round. Brisbane at better than 9 an over.
3rd over: Brisbane Heat 27-0 (Mooney 3, Green 17) Molly Strano now, the off-spinner who has played for Australia. Trots up to the crease. Bowls short and Green cuts. Bowls full and Green carts her across the line, landing just inside the rope. Two boundaries. The Heat are flying out of the blocks and Mooney has barely hit a ball!
2nd over: Brisbane Heat 18-0 (Mooney 2, Green 9) Another close one for Green, who tries to pull the Kiwi quick Lea Tahuhu and gets a big top edge that lands safely. Then Mooney charges, misses as Tahuhu carves the ball off the seam, and from an angle around the wicket to the left-hander it pitches outside off and misses leg stump, beats Dooley, and goes for four byes. Lots of freebies for Brisbane, but it’s not like the Renegades have done a lot wrong. Just bad luck.
1st over: Brisbane Heat 9-0 (Mooney 1, Green 7) The first over is a bit of a shambles for all concerned. Maitlan Brown bowls a wide, Mooney pulls to get off strike, then there’s a pie that Green cuts for four. Green then nearly chops on, edging past her stumps, and Lanning really puts in some effort to make a diving stop at fine leg. Atapattu makes a good stop at cover, then botches her throw to the keeper and gives away a run. Everyone is edgy.
Brisbane Heat must chase 164 to win
That’s a fine total for a final, where pressure does a lot extra. The Renegades have handled this well without Danni Wyatt, who can so often make a fast 50 to start an innings off. Anna Lanning struggled early but made up her deficit with a couple of boundaries before getting out. Atapattu did the same and was unlucky, but her dismissal brought in Melbourne’s clutch player in Duffin. She did the bulk of the work with Dooley, who picked a great time for a personal best score, then Wareham iced the cake.
For Brisbane, Beth Mooney will be the trump card after her outstanding year, then there are plenty of fast-scoring types through the line-up. But a few quiet overs can do wonders...
Half century! Dooley 50 from 42 balls
20th over: Melbourne Renegades 163-4 (Dooley 50) Kimmince bowls short, Dooley pulls hard for a single, and that’s her first WBBL fifty. She’s played a key role against her old team. Wareham on strike, swats it for four! Across the line and flat-bats it through square leg! Kimmince digs deep, channels her younger days, and cranks up the bouncer! On around off stump, and Wareham reaches for it but can’t make contact! Full goes Kimmince next ball, and Wareham lofts it into the gap at wide midwicket, racing back for the second.
Two balls to go. Length ball. Wareham gets under it! Lofts it straight! For six! She has 21 from 7 balls! What a cameo this is.
Final ball of the innings, very slow, Wareham waits, drags a pull across the line, races back in a gamble for a second run, hoping the throw is bad, but it isn’t. She’s run out from the last ball, but she’s done a wonderful job for her team.
Wareham run out 22 (8 balls)
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19th over: Melbourne Renegades 149-3 (Dooley 49, Wareham 9) Alternatively, Georgia Wareham could add 20 at the death. She skips down and cleans up Jonassen over midwicket for four. Then kneels and slots her sweep shot for four more! Lovely hitting. Winds up and absolutely murders the next ball, but Harris right on the paint at midwicket gets down to keep it to one. Wareham has 9 from 3 balls. Dooley walks down and misses but gets it off her toe away for a leg bye. Jonassen has a typically frugal 1 for 25 from her four overs despite a final over costing 14 with several extras that don’t go against the bowler.
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WICKET! Duffin st Mooney b Jonassen
Second time lucky! First ball of the over, Duffin slaps and misses and is probably out of her crease as Mooney misses the take and concedes four byes. Second ball, Jonassen bowls fast and zips it through, Duffin plays the same sort of way, and is miles out after missing the ball. That’s huge for Brisbane, could be worth 20 runs at the death.
18th over: Melbourne Renegades 135-2 (Dooley 49, Duffin 44) Prestwidge to bowl with 18 balls remaining. Make that 17, as Dooley charges and misses her attempted drive. Even a run a ball here takes them to 150, which would have to be competitive. Dooley advances again, pulls, big top edge but it lands safely around mid-on. Duffin backs away, tries to slam over point, but also gets a big top edge that carries backward point but only yields a run. Prestwidge bowls a wide, then a couple more singles. Only 5 from the over. No, 4. The wide wasn’t called I don’t think? Did it flick the pad?
17th over: Melbourne Renegades 131-2 (Dooley 47, Duffin 42) Another half chance from Duffin, as she mows Grace Harris back past the bowler. I don’t know if Harris got a touch on it, but you could hear her in the stump mic yelling “That was a catch!” Dooley goes big next ball, really walloping but it lands short of the boundary at midwicket, netting her two. Then when Duffin gets on strike she hits the same shot but much better, flat rather than high, and nails the gap for four! That’s gorgeous contact. Harris’ last ball for the day, a full toss, and Duffin sweeps it for six! Flat over square leg! This is some knock. 14 from the over!
16th over: Melbourne Renegades 117-2 (Dooley 44, Duffin 31) Kimmince is back with her lack of pace, and it nearly brings results immediately. A sliced edge that lands safely at cover point, between two players in the ring. Dooley gets one and gets off strike. Duffin plays Kimmince differently, waiting back, dropping her weight onto the back foot, then slapping her cut shot over cover for four. Top shot against this style of bowling. Duffin backs away again but this time DK bowls fuller and at her legs, resulting in a push to Jonassen at backward point. No run. Kimmince again, on the pads, full toss, whacked away to deep backward square and dropped! Amelia Kerr spills it, a fairly straightforward chance though it would have been spinning, curving in the air a bit, and flat. Duffin nailed the strike, just hit it airborne. Takes a run, Dooley reciprocates, then Duffin walks at Kimmince and nails a pull shot to deep midwicket, but straight to the sweeper. Great shot for one run. Eight from that over.
15th over: Melbourne Renegades 109-2 (Dooley 42, Duffin 25) Kerr to Duffin, full toss, slapped over mid-off for four! Backs away leg side of the ball, and for a minute it looks like it might be caught, but there’s enough on it. Duffin gets down to sweep but doesn’t get much of it, only a single. Dooley drops to a knee and laps Kerr away for two runs to fine leg. It’s been quite the hand from Dooley. Down the wicket again and drives to long-on for one. Four in the ring on the off side and one sweeping at cover. Duffin drives back to the bowler, no run. But the last of the over Duffin hangs back in her crease again, waits, gets under the ball and lofts it for four! A cross-bat whack, not much subtlety about it but it gets the job done. A dozen runs from the over. They need five more like it.
14th over: Melbourne Renegades 97-2 (Dooley 39, Duffin 16) Sammy-Jo Johnson is back, straight in at the stumps but Duffin gets bat on it, one run. Floats up a slower ball and Dooley picks it to drive, but the cover sweeper gets in the way. Mooney walks up to the stumps so that Duffin might think twice before leaving her crease, so Duffin drops deeper and forces away a run to cover. Dooley cuts one more run. Beam ball from Johnson! Slips out of the hand and nearly hits Duffin on the badge. She manages to knock the ball away, just, and falls over in the process. So she doesn’t take the run to deep backward square. But she can’t take anything off the free hit, slamming it straight to mid-off. To follow that comes a wide, bouncing off the keeper for another extra, and nearly a run out with a direct hit. Then Dooley walks across and finishes the over with a six, launched over long-on and banging off the roof of the stand.
13th over: Melbourne Renegades 84-2 (Dooley 31, Duffin 14) Grace Harris bowling really nicely, and also commentating her own overs on the TV broadcast. This is great viewing, she’s talking through her plans to both batters and then delivering. Except for one ball that she drags down to Duffin, who puts away her cut shot for four.
12th over: Melbourne Renegades 76-2 (Dooley 29, Duffin 8) Jonassen darts in at the stumps, Duffin skips and lumps it over the bowler’s head for four. Simple game. Advances again but this time the length isn’t there, and Duffin has to open the face and push to point for one. Dooley goes hard across her pads to deep midwicket but won’t chance the second with Prestwidge bearing down. Duffin cuts, only for one with backward point set deep. Dooley charging now, driving over mid-off, just clearing the field, and they only get one. Should have perhaps hustled a second.
11th over: Melbourne Renegades 67-2 (Dooley 26, Duffin 2) Amelia Kerr is back. Such a remarkable career already for one so young. Was a bowler to watch in NZ domestic cricket from the age of 14, then battered the highest ever score in women’s ODIs with a double ton against Ireland. Dooley sweeps a run, then Duffin finally gets her first, chopping one square. HawkEye suggests that Duffin should have been out – she moved across her stumps so it did create the illusion that she was hit outside the line. So the Gades got unlucky with Atapattu, and lucky with Duffin. Dooley drives gorgeously to deep midwicket but Kimmince dives for a corking save on the line, with Grace Harris backing her up for the one-two throw.
10th over: Melbourne Renegades 60-2 (Dooley 21, Duffin 0) Gorgeous over from Jess Jonassen, the left-arm orthodox. Dooley gets a run first ball, then Duffin is becalmed for the next five. There’s a raucous appeal for a ball that was angled at the stumps, maybe just outside the line? Then Duffin backs away, swings hard, takes the ball off her stumps but lumps it straight to mid-off on the bounce. That’s drinks.
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9th over: Melbourne Renegades 59-2 (Dooley 20, Duffin 0) Jess Duffin, the Renegades’ key, is out to the middle now. HawkEye suggests that the ball to Atapattu was the googly, and therefore would have missed the left-hander’s off stump by about a metre. It pitched so close to the pad that it was impossible to read the turn. Them’s the breaks, I guess. Duffin blocks out a couple of dot balls to close the over.
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Wicket! Atapattu lbw Kerr 21 (19 balls)
Very positive play from Josie Dooley. Gets across to Kerr first ball of the over and sweeps hard but only finds the sweeper. Kerr bowls a filthy full toss, real moon ball, and Atapattu tried to hit it so hard at head high that she can only drag it for one. It’s called a no-ball, and Dooley clips the on-drive nicely but finds Harris on the rope. Atapattu charges and doesn’t pick the googly, but gets bat on it to save herself from a stumping. Thick outside edge. But she can’t save herself from the lbw. Atapattu thinks she hit the ball as she came across the line. Huge flight on that once again, it dipped, it landed in front of her pads, she tried to sweep but it was so full that it burrowed under her gloves. She thinks she made some contact, the umpire has a long think and decides not.
8th over: Melbourne Renegades 55-1 (Atapattu 20, Dooley 18) Georgia Prestwidge to bowl next, medium pace over the wicket. Dooley gets a single thanks to an overthrow. The left-handed Sri Lankan on strike now, walks at Prestwidge but drives to cover, then wafts at a wider one and misses. Back on leg stump and Atapattu jams a single off her pads. Dooley skips at the bowler and drives her for four! Lovely contact on the off-drive, wide of the fielder! Created a half volley for herself. Then advances again but the line is at her pads, and she gets a fat leading edge through backward point, lucky to hit a gap there.
7th over: Melbourne Renegades 48-1 (Atapattu 19, Dooley 12) Amelia Kerr is on, the New Zealand leg-spinner. Bowling with a lot of loop in this over. Beth Mooney is very confident in appealing for a stumping, but Atapattu’s foot had never dragged out of the crease. After a few singles, Chamari sweeps hard behind square for four.
6th over: Melbourne Renegades 41-1 (Atapattu 14, Dooley 10) Delissa Kimmince on to bowl, the Australian all-rounder who played a key role in the Women’s Ashes mid-year. She basically bowls about nine different slower balls and rarely gives away runs. She gives Dooley a boundary first ball though, on the pads and easily driven through midwicket. Kimmince turns the screws after that, her unhittable length that sees Dooley face a few dots and then squeeze a single. But Chamari Atapattu has a way of doing things that other players can’t. Leg stump line, she gets under it, flicking to leg, and top edges a six! That was all edge, but it soars away, miles in the air, and carries the fence! What a strike.
5th over: Melbourne Renegades 30-1 (Atapattu 8, Dooley 5) A good over from Harris, especially to Dooley, who survives a tight lbw appeal. But right at the end Harris gets a bit short, Atapattu carves away behind point, and another misfield gives a bit of oxygen back to the Renegades innings.
4th over: Melbourne Renegades 24-1 (Atapattu 3, Dooley 4) Next in is Josie Dooley, who normally bats down the order, but she’s eased into her work with a full toss on the pads from Sammy-Jo, and Dooley flicks it behind square for four. Cheers.
Wicket! Lanning c Kerr b Johnson 16 (18 balls)
That over starts better from Lanning – she seens width, knows she can throw her hands at it, and gets a thick top edge through the empty slips for four. Then gets a short ball and cleans it up with a pull shot for four more! But she goes to the well once too often, trying to loft on the up over cover, and getting a thick outside edge taken at backward point.
3rd over: Melbourne Renegades 12-0 (Lanning 8, Atapattu 3) The Sri Lankan skipper off strike again early, then there’s a misfield from Short that allows Lanning’s off-drive to get through for four! A lucky accident. Jess Jonassen the bowler, and she follows up with a beauty! That turned appreciably and goes past the outside edge! She’s getting lovely bounce too from this surface and she skips over Lanning’s attempted cut shot. Lanning struggling early, 8 from 14 balls, and four of those runs from fortune.
2nd over: Melbourne Renegades 6-0 (Lanning 3, Atapattu 2) Sammy-Jo Johnson at the other end, bowls rapidly at times, and she’s right on top of Lanning early. Atapattu gets off strike, there’s a wide, then Lanning is stuck there, mis-hitting, finding the field, and then being startled by a bouncer that she can’t get hear. Good variation.
1st over: Melbourne Renegades 4-0 (Lanning 3, Atapattu 1) The Heat opening their bowling with Grace Harris today, a tall off-spinner, giving these batters no pace to work with. Some bounce too, enabling Atapattu to jab away a single off her hip. Lanning flicks nicely square a couple of times, getting an extra run thanks to a boundary line fumble.
Teams
Melbourne Renegades
Anna Lanning
Chamari Atapattu
Jess Duffin *
Josie Dooley +
Courtney Webb
Erica Kershaw
Georgia Wareham
Maitlan Brown
Carly Leeson
Molly Strano
Lea Tahuhu
Brisbane Heat
Beth Mooney +
Jess Jonassen
Maddy Green
Grace Harris
Laura Harris
Kirby Short *
Amelia Kerr
Delissa Kimmince
Sammy-Jo Johnson
Mikayla Hinkley
Georgia Prestwidge
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Brisbane Heat win the toss and will bowl
So the chasing will be done by the home side. The Renegades, without Danni Wyatt thanks to her England duties, will have to pile up something bit. Two of the comp’s form batters will go head to head, with Jess Duffin for the Gades befor Beth Mooney for the Heat. The Renegades chased 180-odd here against the Heat only a few days ago. Sri Lanka’s big hitter Chamari Atapattu has been drafted in, and she made a blazing hundred at this ground against Australia in an ODI in early October, after another in a T20 at North Sydney. Anna Lanning, sister of the GOAT, will be at the top of the order in red too, having made some recent runs. Should be a belter.
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Preamble
Hello gang. I’ve just finished doing the Adelaide-Perth OBO, where the Strikers have won through to the WBBL final over the Scorchers. Check that out here if you’re not up to speed.
