Brisbane Heat made it three wins in a row in WBBL|12 with an eight-wicket victory over Melbourne Stars at Junction Oval on Thursday, chasing down 166 with seven balls to spare. Captain Georgia Redmayne led the chase with an unbeaten 74 off 50 balls, and Irish young gun Orla Prendergast finished on 52 not out off 36, the pair adding an unbroken 105 runs to take the Heat home in 18.5 overs. Redmayne was named Player of the Match, and the win lifted Brisbane into third place on the table with six points from five games.
Stars captain Meg Lanning won the toss and chose to bat, and she shared a 108-run opening partnership with Amy Jones to give the hosts a strong platform. Lanning made 52 off 45 balls and Jones top-scored with 74 off 52, but the innings lost momentum after the openers departed, and the Stars finished on 165 for 5. Georgia Prestwidge’s late cameo of 20 off eight balls gave the total some respectability, while the fielding moment of the match came in the 15th over, when Annie O’Neil took a stunning low diving catch to dismiss Annabel Sutherland off Sianna Ginger’s slower ball.
The chase began shakily for the Heat, with Grace Harris falling cheaply for 2 and Charli Knott bowled by Sutherland for 8, but Redmayne and Prendergast took control from there. The pair were in a strong position at 57 for 1 after six overs and never allowed the required rate to climb, picking off the boundaries with ease as the Stars’ bowlers ran out of answers. Their unbeaten stand carried Brisbane across the line without further loss, a third consecutive win after the Heat had lost their first two games of the season.
The result leaves the two sides heading in opposite directions. Brisbane’s resurgence has them sitting pretty in third place, firmly in the finals race at the halfway mark of the season, while the Stars have now lost five of their six matches and sit seventh with two points, their title hopes fading fast. Perth Scorchers remain the only unbeaten side in the competition at 5-0, but the Heat’s form makes them one of the teams to watch as the season moves into its second half.
The Stars will need a swift turnaround, with the second match of Thursday’s Junction Oval double-header, Melbourne Renegades against Sydney Sixers, starting at 1:40pm IST. For the Heat, the win was another sign that the side which ended a 706-day wait for a WBBL victory earlier this month has found its rhythm, with Redmayne leading from the front and Prendergast growing in stature with every outing.
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Charli Knott’s Maiden Hundred Ends Brisbane Heat’s 706-Day Wait for a WBBL Win
Scorchers Stay Perfect as Devine and Ainsworth Chase Down 160 Against Thunder in WBBL
