IT TOOK a reliance on the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) method to get the job done, but Melbourne Stars won a rain-delayed second WBBL09 Melbourne Derby yesterday.

Although the Stars were defending a small total, two rain delays in the second innings proved to be in their favour as they went on to win by eight runs. It took a moment for the Stars to get going, but once Sophia Dunkley got going she was looking very ominous. But just as she was just getting going she got trapped in front by Hayley Matthews, who had taken a spectacular catch the previous over to dismiss Maia Bouchier.

The next over saw yet another wicket fall, and all of a sudden the Stars were in real trouble. Annabel Sutherland and Tess Flintoff helped steady the ship for the Stars, but really needed to pick up the pace in order to make something of the innings.

The pair had built a really strong partnership and had just started to pick up the pace when Sutherland skyed one to the boundary and was caught out. Flintoff continued the big hitting for a couple more overs before she too was caught in the deep.

Once Flintoff fell the scoring dried up again for the Stars, and questions started to be asked about how competitive their final total would be. They did eventually make 100, and ultimately were bowled out for 118 on the final ball of the innings.

Nicole Faltum provide a bit of resistance late with 20 from as many balls, while earlier Sutherland top scored with 36 and Flintoff made 22.

Meanwhile for the Renegades, the wicket taking duties were shared evenly, with Matthews, Georgia Prestwidge, Georgia Wareham and Harmanpreet Kaur each picking up two wickets.

The Renegades’ innings with the bat started in a very similar fashion to the way the Stars’ one had, with not much to show in terms of runs from the opening overs. The Renegades also lost their first wicket in the second over when Emma De Broughe was caught behind. Tammy Beaumont also fell in the second over and Kim Garth was on fire.

Then came the rain delay, which threatened to cut the match one over short of counting as a result. Thankfully that was not the case, and after a short delay the match was revised down to 12 overs, and the Renegades’ revised target was 81.

After the restart Matthews found her groove and was starting to find plenty of boundaries, but just as she was starting to look really dangerous the players were called off again for a second rain interruption. Unfortunately the teams were unable to return to the pitch after the second delay, but since the Stars were ahead on the DLS method (par score was 35) they emerged victorious.