NICK FRIEND looks back over the standout performances from a wet first week of the tournament
If losing certainly wasn’t on the agenda for the Australia batsman on her Perth Scorchers debut against Brisbane Heat, it was little surprise to see her in the runs.
A top order featuring Mooney, Sophie Devine, Amy Jones and Nicole Bolton is hardly light on international run-scoring prowess, so they will have been disappointed to only reach 132 for 7 from their 20 overs – not least because Mooney’s former side then chased down the runs with ease.
She made 37 and, with last season’s run-scoring rival Devine now by her side, will be looking for many more.
Handed a rain-adjusted target in a shortened game, there could be few more players more desirable than Australia wicketkeeper-batsman Healy, who has transformed her entire skillset in recent years to become among the most dominant, fearless openers in the women’s game.
And so, asked to chase 47 in six overs, she did it with ease, hitting three fours and a six in just 16 balls. Captain Ellyse Peryy played second-fiddle from the other end, with the significant insurance options of Ashleigh Gardner, Erin Burns, Marizanne Kapp and Dane van Niekerk all waiting – unused – in the dugout.
The Australia captain returned to Melbourne Stars after a spell at Perth Scorchers with a touch of unfinished business. And so, it was entirely typical of the world’s best batsman when she began in fine style.
She had just reached her half century – the first of several, no doubt – when rain ended proceedings in Sydney. Between Lanning, Elyse Villani, Mignon du Preez, Nat Sciver, Annabel Sutherland and Erin Osborne, Stars have several options in their top six to enjoy a successful campaign.
Teenager Darcie Brown has impressed several onlookers already
Only three games in the first week of fixtures managed to produce results, with Adelaide Strikers’ eight-wicket win over Hobart Hurricanes one of them.
The South African batsman played a major role in that victory. Tasked with the poisoned chalice of replacing Sophie Devine’s 2019 run-tally, Wolvaardt began her competition with an unbeaten 51 – Devine made 769 at an average of 76.9 last year.
Few players in the women’s game – if any – look so easy on the eye at the crease. One punch for four between the bowler and mid-on was particularly glorious.
With Beth Mooney having departed for pastures new, Brisbane Heat needed others to step up in the run-scoring department, Harris’ talent has never been in doubt; she struck the fastest-ever Women’s Big Bash century in 2018 but then averaged just 17.66 last year. It is four years now since she last played international cricket.
In a tournament so far beset by rain and lacking in star performances, her match-winning 53 against Perth Scorchers is one of three half centuries scored thus far. She hit five fours and three sixes in her 37-ball knock, starting as Brisbane will mean for her to carry on.
Another in her early days with a new team, Redmayne – a doctor on the frontline through the coronavirus pandemic – has made the switch from Perth Scorchers to Brisbane Heat, helping to fill a Mooney-shaped void.
Keeping wicket and opening the batting, she anchored Heat’s successful chase, making an unbeaten 37 – ironically, exactly the same as what Mooney made in the first innings of the match, allowing Harris and Jess Jonassen to attack around her.
In the same game as Healy’s match-winning cameo, South African allrounder Kapp had earlier taken three wickets in restricting Adelaide Strikers’ batting effort.
She had Tahlia McGrath, Bridget Patterson and Sarah Coyte all caught – part of an opening salvo that had Strikers reeling at 14 for 4 in the fifth over.
She is one of three players – Darcie Brown and Amanda-Jade Wellington the others – with three wickets in the competition.
Rain has ruined several games already in this year's WBBL
Like Kapp, Wellington has taken three wickets in the tournament’s initial throes, playing a crucial role in Adelaide Strikers’ routine dismantling of Hobart Hurricanes in their first game.
The 23-year-old leg-spinner took the key wicket of big-hitting South African Chloe Tryon among her trio of scalps.
The youngest-ever player to represent Adelaide Strikers as she made her debut at just 16 years of age, the seamer impressed immensely, taking three wickets and bowling with some significant pace.
In running through Hobart Hurricanes’ batting order, she bowled Nicola Carey with a full, swinging delivery, before returning at the end to dismiss Amy Smith and Brooke Hepburn. One to watch.
She was selected for Australia’s Under-19 side when only 15 and travelled to New Zealand to play a series against the New Zealand development squad.
Delissa Kimmince tends to go under the radar, given the nature of her role in the middle overs. And so, it was no shock to see her in the wickets once again, after coming on as Jess Jonassen’s third-change option for Brisbane Heat.
With her wily seamers, she dismissed England leg-spinner Sarah Glenn and Heather Graham in successive deliveries in the final over during Heat’s win over Perth Scorchers.
The Australia opening bowler has proven as effective as ever in her new role as Adelaide Strikers captain. Suzie Bates was in charge last year, but her exit – and that of Sophie Devine – has led to Schutt taking the reins.
And with the first two legitimate deliveries of her campaign (her first ball was a wide), she bowled Rachel Priest and Hayley Matthews for consecutive first-ball ducks.
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