Brisbane Heat v Perth Scorchers

The Scorchers sunk to the bottom of the table after conceding a heavy defeat at the hands of the Heat.

Brisbane won the toss and elected to bowl and that decision was immediately validated, with Sammy-Jo Johnson, Jess Jonassen and Delissa Kimmince bowling beautifully in the powerplay. After five overs the Scorchers were reeling at 2/17, and the innings never recovered.

Villani scored 45 but couldn’t seem to find the middle of the bat, perhaps struggling with Johnson’s extra pace. The rest of the order provided no help, with number seven Chloe Piparo second top scoring with 12.

When firing, the Heat have a strong bowling attack, and it showed, with quicks Johnson and Kimmince providing wickets with the new ball before spin trio Jess Jonassen, Sune Luus and Jemma Barsby put the clamps on in the middle overs. Between Jonassen’s left arm orthodox, Luus’s leggies and Barsby’s offies, skipper Kirby Short has plenty of options to turn to.

Brisbane were comfortable in their chase, but once again their order was the most interesting part of their innings. Sammy-Jo Johnson stayed at three, while internationals Sune Luus and Laura Woolvardt didn’t bat.

Whether this batting line-up can chase down bigger totals remains to be seen, but Beth Mooney spending some time in the middle is a positive sign for Brisbane for the rest of the tournament.

Sydney Sixers v Sydney Thunder

The local derby is always a hotly fought contest, and this match didn’t lack any intensity.

Perry struck her third consecutive fifty at the top of the order and is certainly firming to be the player of the tournament. In a slight change of pace to her first two innings this tournament, Perry played an anchor role for Sydney, which allowed Erin Burns to flourish at the other end, smashing 44 off 22 and enlivening the Sixers innings.

Burns was extremely unlucky to be dismissed when an Ellyse Perry straight drive ricocheted off Stefanie Taylor’s hand to run out Burns at the non-striker’s end. Perry kept going though, showing her cricket smarts by adjusting her guard to allow her to score freely.

Always strong on the off side, Perry has been taking guard on off stump this tournament to open up the leg side and it seems to be working, with plenty of her runs coming through the mid-wicket region.

The Thunder were under all sorts of pressure as Marizanne Kapp, Ash Gardner, Lauren Cheatle and Perry put the clamps on early, conceding just 35 runs in the first eight overs. At 4/35, the Thunder were in plenty of trouble, but Harmanpreet Kaur showed her class and tried to give her side hope, striking 45 off 28.

Her innings included 20 runs off one Sarah Aley over, and one of the flattest sixes over cover you’ll ever see. Overall, though, too much was left to too little and the Thunder fell 36 runs short.