Capsey caps off Stars upset with superb knock

The Melbourne Stars have left the Hobart Hurricanes' finals chances in a precarious position with an upset victory in Latrobe on the back of Alice Capsey's stunning unbeaten 80.

English import Capsey, who is only 18 years old, smashed consecutive sixes in the penultimate over to turn what was a difficult equation (18 runs required off 11 balls) into a cakewalk.

The Stars got home with five balls to spare to clinch a four-wicket win, their fourth victory of the season. 

It leaves the Hurricanes still in third position but tied on 13 points with the Perth Scorchers (fourth) and the Adelaide Strikers (fifth), although the team in purple do have a match in hand. Only the top four make the Weber WBBL finals. 

Needing 131 to win, the Stars started cautiously and lost openers Lauren Winfield-Hill (2) and Bess Heath (12) with only 19 runs on the board.

Although Capsey and Annabel Sutherland (25) were building a foundation, they still had plenty of work to do at the halfway mark with the score at 2-47. 

As the required run rate jumped above eight and half runs an over, Sutherland holed out off the bowling of Nicola Carey to expose the Stars' middle order. 

But Capsey wouldn't make the same mistake.

The young gun hit three fours and five sixes in her 52-ball knock, the highest score of her T20 career, and mixed brutal hits down the ground with crafty reverse sweeps. 

Hurricanes spinner Molly Strano (3-17) tried everything in her arsenal to keep Hobart ahead of the game, including taking 2-4 in the 18th over, but she couldn't remove the match-winner Capsey. 

The Stars' win was soured by a potentially serious injury to Tess Flintoff, who left the field to get scans on her AC joint after holding onto an impressive catch to dismiss Carey. 

Having earlier dropped Lizelle Lee and Rachel Trenaman, both off the bowling of Sasha Moloney, Flintoff made amends with an excellent running catch to remove the dangerous Carey. 

However, delight instantly turned to distress when the allrounder grabbed at her left shoulder.  

It was the second of Sutherland's three wickets, with the allrounder finishing her spell with 3-18 from four overs to take her to 18 scalps for the tournament, the fourth most. 

In the first-ever Big Bash match in Latrobe, a town of about 5000 people in northern Tasmania and known for its 'Big Platypus', Stars captain Nicole Faltum chose to bowl first.

Runs were flowing early for the Hurricanes as they went at eight an over while the field was up.

However, they were losing regular wickets too with the top three of Lee, Trenaman and Mignon du Preez all out inside five overs.

Experienced trio Elyse Villani (14), Carey (31) and Naomi Stalenberg (12) steadied the ship somewhat, but none could press on to the big score the Hurricanes were crying out for.

A late-innings cameo from Emma Manix-Geeves (20 off 21) saw the Hurricanes take 33 runs off the final four overs to finish with a competitive total of 8-130.

The Hurricanes and the Stars meet again in Latrobe on Wednesday with the Stars needing another win to keep their slim finals chances alive.

Tickets for Weber WBBL and KFC BBL games are on sale now. Get yours at cricket.com.au/big-bash