WBBL 2017/18: Sydney Thunder Start off Season with Crucial Win

With women’s cricket getting attention from the whole world now after the recently concluded Women’s World Cup in England, this year’s Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL), the franchise based women’s T20 tournament is an entertaining challenge.

It provided its hint right from the first match, as Sydney Thunder led by Alex Blackwell posted a mammoth total of 200 on the scoreboard.

Melbourne Renegades and Sydney Thunders locked horns against each other in the first match of the tournament earlier today at North Sydney Oval.

The Renegades led by Amy Satterthwaite won the toss and elected to field first. Thunders didn’t have a good start, as they lost Rachel Priest in the second over of the match. However, Rachael Haynes (55) played some delightful shots as she lost her partners at the other end. The Thunders were striving at 41 for four in seven overs when Naomi Stalenberg (38) scored some quick runs to improve the run-rate.

A new record total! @ThunderWBBL become the first WBBL team to post 200: https://t.co/JJFooGaoBb #WBBL03 pic.twitter.com/lN5LEUy7qV

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 9, 2017

The 24-year-old Nicola Carey played some delightful shots, as she scored 47 runs in just 17 balls with the help of nine boundaries and one six along with a nine-ball 25 from Rene Farrell to take their score to 200-run mark for the loss of six wickets at the end of 20 overs.

Also, this is the first time a WBBL team has achieved this 200-run mark in this edition.

In reply, Renegades got to a flier, as both their openers scored at a good pace right from the first ball.

Jessica Duffin played a gem of a knock of 81 runs off just 47 balls to take her team close to the victory line; however, after her wicket, nobody took the onus on themselves, as the Renegades fell short by 11 runs in a thrilling encounter. West Indian Stafanie Taylor gave only three runs in the last over to take her team home in the opening match.

Brief Score: Sydney Thunder: 200/6 (Rachael Haynes 55, Nicola Carey 47) Maitlan Brown 1/29 beat Melbourne Renegades ( Jessica Duffin 81, Chamari Athapaththu 42) Stafanie Taylor 2/30 by 11

Man of the Match: Jessica Duffin