YESTERDAY’s double header of action in the WBBL helped set a few things in place, including who would host the Grand Final and another team’s place in the finals.

Heat book place in finals

The Brisbane Heat will be playing finals again after they defeated Sydney Thunder by 22 runs in the first match of yesterday’s double header. The Heat batted first and made 8/160, before the Thunder could only muster 9/138.

Despite the Heat’s competitive tally, no one made a huge score individually. Six batters made a score between 12 and 21, with Bess Heath ultimately top scoring on only 29. On the flipside, Sammy-Jo Johnson had a great spell with the ball for the Thunder, taking three wickets from her four overs. She was ably assisted by Marizanne Kapp who took two wickets.

After the Thunder made a pretty solid start to their chase, but once the wickets started to fall, the scoring dried up. The Thunder’s opening partnership was 54 runs, but after that the next highest partnership was 28 runs. All of these was alongside an extras count of 15.

Chamari Athapaththu was top scorer for the Thunder with 34. Meanwhile for the Heat, Jess Jonassen was chief destroyer with the ball with four wickets, while Nicola Hancock picked up two.

Strikers claim Final hosting duties with Scorching win

Thanks to a stellar bowling display, the Adelaide Strikers have defeated Perth Scorchers by five wickets and claimed hosting duties for the WBBL09 final.

After the Scorchers were bowled out for 104, the Strikers reached the target with one ball left in the 15th over.

After claiming the first wicket seven balls in and having only conceded two runs, it was on for the Strikers bowlers. There was a little bit of resistance from the Scorchers through the second quarter of the innings, but Natalie Sciver-Brunt and Sophie Devine’s efforts proved futile as no one else put up much of a resistance. Those two were also the only ones to make a double figure score, making 32 and 30 respectively.

Darcie Brown was the pick of the bowlers for the Strikers, taking three wickets, while Amanda-Jade Wellington and Danielle Gibson took two wickets each.

In reply the Strikers did not have it all their own way, but still reached the target with relative ease with Madeline Penna top scored with 31 not out.

Devine was the pick of the Scorchers bowlers with three wickets to her name.