Women's Big Bash League

[The Professor]

Been listening to this in the morning.

Very impressed with Rachel Priest - 7inns, 180 runs @ 36avg/116.12sr. Got another 42 today as Hobart beat Mel Ren.

[Durhamfootman]

Atm, Heather Knight must be the runaway MVP, with Nat Sciver not too far behind. The Aussie girls are lagging behind a bit, although Ash Gardner is at least making a fist of it

[The Professor]

I'd say the New Zealanders aren't lagging too far behind.

Priest yesterday and Kerr today with 4 wickets for 20 runs as Brisbane easily beat Syd Thun.

[Durhamfootman]

Staf Taylor isn't bowling for the strikers

her batting isn't making up for it, either. If she can't bowl for some reason then she should probably be coming in further up the order for the best chance to get full value from her

Quietish tournament for Perry up to now. Same with Devine, apart from that one innings

[Durhamfootman]

after an uncharacteristically slow start, Sophie Devine is now firing on all cylinders and Ellyse Perry seems to be getting back into the swing of things. Jess Jonassen has been as steady as a rock all the way through

Heather Knight has gone off the boil slightly for Thunder, but Nat Sciver is the engine keeping the Stars miles ahead of the pack

[The Professor]

Hannah Darlington is another young Aussie bowling talent.

3 wickets today for Sydney Thunder against Melbourne Renegades continue her steep learning curve. Wasnt even in the side at the start of the tournament.

[Durhamfootman]

took 3 in her last match too. She's taken over the role that was dominated by Sam Bates in the first half of the group matches

If Sophie Devine isn't injured, then I feel that resting her for a match just as she's got back to her very best may prove to be a remarkably stupid idea

ditto Nat Sciver

Healy struggling a bit this year, with respectable but not series defining run scoring

[The Professor]

SydThun have got some quality bowlers
...Sammy-Jo Johnson was on a stormer today. 3-25 but ended up on losing side.

[The Professor]

The bowlers really are standing out for me in this tournament.

Today MelStars rode on the back of Alana King's 3-16 to progress.

[Durhamfootman]

Stars are rolling everyone over this year

[Durhamfootman]

the unstoppable Melbourne Stars hit a brick wall in the final, as Sydney Thunder stopped them completely.

[The Professor]

Rain was the greatest winner in game one of the WBBL today as the game was limited to 11 overs a side.

Melbourne Stars put on 99-1 in the first dig but, despite losing regular wickets, the Sydney Sixers chased it down. Alyssa Healy (57) scored over half the total.

[The Professor]

Another two games today; caught the first one which saw Melbourne Renegades defeat Hobart. Georgia Wareham led the bowling attack with 3-13, the best figures of the tournament so far, as Hobart could only muster 121. MelRen lost wickets more regularly but scored more freely in the Powerplay. It got a little tighter towards the end but they pulled it off.

Adelaide beat Sydney Thunder in the second game.

[The Professor]

This comp has been quietly bubbling away in the small hours. Saw Mignon Du Preez put on a bit of an explosive innings as Hobart beat MelStars today - was surprised to see she's been in poor form.

Brisbane Heat and MelRen top the table with 3 wins out of 5 whilst this win took Hobart to 4th.

Rachel Priest of Hobart is the top run scorer with her 107* against MelStars doing a lot of the heavy lifting on that front. Despite only playing 4 games (others have played 6) Jess Jonassen's nine wickets for Brisbane sees her atop the wicket taking tally.

[The Professor]

A couple of decent WBBL games this morning.

First up was Perth against Adelaide which boiled down to super over that Peth dominated much more than they did their own innings. They needed just 2 balls to get the 9 runs needed as they hit two maximums. It was unfair dinkum (if such a thing exists) for the Adelaide bowlers who kept Perth in check throughout – most notably Amanda-Jade Wellington who got 2-12 from her 4.

In a later game, Brisbane strolled to an impressive looking win over Hobart with Grace Harris leading from the top with a 51 ball 75 making up a 140 run opening partnership. Brisbane never really looked back from there and eventually ran out 14 run winners.

Harris’ run scoring takes her top of the run scoring table whilst Jess Jonassen bagged another 3 wickets, taking her total to 12.