Sydney Sixers stayed perfect in WBBL|12 with a nerve-shredding 11-run win over Melbourne Renegades at the Junction Oval on Thursday, defending 140 to make it five wins from five in Match 20 of the competition. Melie Kerr’s 53 off 34 balls set up the total, and captain Ashleigh Gardner took three wickets in a dramatic final over as the Renegades lost their last five wickets for six runs.
The Sixers, who won the toss and batted, made a slow start in the second match of a double-header at the Junction Oval. Sophia Dunkley and Gardner could not convert their starts, and Ellyse Perry struggled for fluency before being run out for 30 off 41 balls after a mix-up with Kerr. The acceleration came from Kerr, who struck seven fours in her 34-ball fifty and shared a 55-run stand with Perry, before the Sixers lost a flurry of wickets at the death to finish on 140 for 6. Perry’s dismissal had left the Sixers at 124 for 3 with 13 deliveries remaining, and Milly Illingworth was the pick of the Renegades bowlers with 2 for 24.
The Renegades’ chase never found its rhythm. They slipped to 22 for 3 inside five overs, and although Sophie Molineux and Nicole Faltum rebuilt with a 37-run stand, both fell in quick succession to leave the hosts 63 for 5 in the 12th over. Tess Flintoff kept the chase alive with 44 off 31 balls, dominating a 60-run partnership with Georgia Wareham, but her dismissal in the 19th over left the Renegades needing 18 off the last over — and Gardner shut the door, taking three wickets as the hosts were bowled out for 129 off the final ball. Faltum made 21 in a losing cause.
Kerr was named Player of the Match for an all-round contribution that went beyond her fifty — she also took 1 for 29, held two catches and effected a run-out. Gardner finished with 3 for 13 from three overs. The win lifts the Sixers to 5-0 at the halfway mark of the season, level on points with the Perth Scorchers at the top of the table and just behind them on net run rate. The Renegades, whose two-match winning run is over, slip to 2-3. It was the second game of the day at the Junction Oval, after Brisbane Heat’s eight-wicket win over Melbourne Stars earlier on Thursday.
The two sides meet again on Sunday, November 15, at North Sydney Oval, where the Renegades will have an immediate chance to end the Sixers’ unbeaten run.
Scorchers Stay Perfect as Devine and Ainsworth Chase Down 160 Against Thunder in WBBL
Redmayne’s Unbeaten 74 Powers Brisbane Heat to Third Straight WBBL Win as Stars Slump Again
