Sydney: Sydney Sixers captain Ashleigh Gardner produced one of the great WBBL innings on Sunday, smashing 124 off just 60 balls to rescue her side from a collapse and set up an 87-run win over Hobart Hurricanes at Drummoyne Oval.
Put in to bat in the second match of the Drummoyne double-header, Sixers were in deep trouble inside the first three overs, losing three wickets for just six runs. What followed was a counter-attack that turned the match on its head.
Gardner, batting with characteristic power and placement, struck 10 fours and nine sixes in her 124, and shared a record-breaking 176-run fourth-wicket partnership with Alice Capsey, who finished unbeaten on 54 off 40 balls. The pair took Sixers from crisis to 196 for 8, a total that looked impossible when the third wicket fell.
Hobart’s chase never got going. The Hurricanes were bowled out for 109 in 17.4 overs, with Gardner herself taking 3 for 23 to complete a Player of the Match all-round performance, and Amelia Kerr also among the wickets as Sixers’ bowlers kept the pressure on throughout.
The win was the second big result of the day at Drummoyne Oval, after Sydney Thunder had earlier chased down Brisbane Heat’s 178 for 5 with 20 balls to spare in the first match of the double-header. For Sixers, though, this was a statement built on one innings: Gardner’s century, scored at two runs a ball, turned a match that was slipping away into a rout, and gave the early WBBL|12 table another shake-up.
For Hurricanes, the defeat was a harsh lesson in how quickly a game can turn in this format. They had Sixers on the ropes in the powerplay, but could not find a way past Gardner once she found her range, and their batting then folded under the weight of a near-200 target. Sixers, by contrast, will take huge confidence from a win forged out of a collapse, with their captain leading from the front in every sense.
Read our latest WBBL report here: https://t20star.com/wolvaardts-70-and-pennas-late-blitz-power-understrength-strikers-to-21-run-wbbl-win-over-stars/
Brief scores: Sydney Sixers 196/8 (Ashleigh Gardner 124, Alice Capsey 54*; Gardner 3-23) beat Hobart Hurricanes 109 in 17.4 overs by 87 runs.
