The two unbeaten sides in WBBL|12 stayed that way on Sunday, as Sydney Sixers edged out Sydney Thunder by nine runs in a rain-hit Sydney derby and Perth Scorchers beat Melbourne Stars by six wickets. Both teams now have four wins from four games, with the Scorchers sitting top of the table on net run rate.
At North Sydney Oval, the Sixers were cruising at 1-65 after nine overs when heavy rain arrived and cut the match to 16 overs a side. The break worked in the Sixers’ favour: they retired Amelia Kerr out on 14 off 17 balls so captain Ashleigh Gardner could come to the crease, and the move paid off spectacularly.
Gardner should have been dismissed first ball, only for Laura Harris to drop a regulation catch at backward point. The missed chance proved costly. Gardner cracked her way to a fifty in just 18 balls — the joint-second-fastest half-century in WBBL history, behind only Tess Flintoff’s 16-ball effort in 2022 — and finished unbeaten on 64 off 25 balls. Ellyse Perry, fresh from her unbeaten 84 against the Stars, made 59 not out off 41 balls, and the pair added an unbeaten 97 runs for the third wicket as the Sixers posted 162 for 2.
Chasing a revised DLS target of 168, the Thunder fought hard. Harris tried to make up for her dropped catch, racing to 35 off 10 balls, and Nadine de Klerk added 30, but the chase kept losing wickets. Seventeen-year-old Caoimhe Bray starred with 4 for 28 and produced the catch of the tournament so far, leaping over the rope to take an AFL-style mark and toss the ball back for Lauren Cheatle to complete the dismissal of Jemma Barsby. The Thunder were bowled out for 158 with three balls remaining, and Gardner, who also took 2 for 37, was named Player of the Match.
Gardner is now the tournament’s leading run-scorer with 224 runs in four innings at an average of 74.66 and a strike rate of 200, and she is also joint-top of the wicket-taking charts with eight wickets. Perry sits second on the run list with 204 runs at an average of 102.
In the second match of the day, Sophie Devine produced an all-round show of her own as the Scorchers beat the Stars. Devine took 2 for 18 as the Stars were held to 136 for 6, Meg Lanning top-scoring with 56, and then smashed 55 off 24 balls as the Scorchers chased the target down in 15 overs, winning by six wickets with Beth Mooney making 28.
Brief scores: Sydney Sixers 162/2 in 16 overs (Ashleigh Gardner 64*, Ellyse Perry 59*) beat Sydney Thunder 158 in 15.3 overs (Laura Harris 35, Nadine de Klerk 30; Caoimhe Bray 4-28) by 9 runs (DLS Method). Melbourne Stars 136/6 in 20 overs (Meg Lanning 56; Sophie Devine 2-18) lost to Perth Scorchers 137/4 in 15 overs (Sophie Devine 55, Beth Mooney 28) by 6 wickets.
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