Lanning's lone hand can't quench Queensland's fire

Meg Lanning has hit her third half-century in four domestic one-day innings, but again the Australian superstar’s efforts were in vain as Queensland sealed a three-wicket win over Victoria in Brisbane.

Lanning played a lone hand batting first at Peter Burge Oval, scoring an unbeaten 73 off 71 balls as Victoria were bowled out for 167 in 39 overs after captain Nicole Faltum won the toss.

Queensland made comfortable work of the chase despite losing opener Georgia Voll (7) in the powerplay and a flurry of late wickets as they pushed for a bonus point.

Fire opener Charli Knott top-scored with a 60-ball 47, while Georgia Redmayne (37 off 60) and Grace Harris (29 off 20) made starts.

Victorian quick Milly Illingworth (3-29) caused a late hiccup for the hosts, but Mikayla Hinkley (14no) iced victory with 11.2 overs to spare.

Faltum (4) was the first Victorian wicket to fall, caught by a leaping Georgia Voll and bringing Lanning to the crease in the fourth over.

Lanning survived a close call on naught when an edge bounced just in front of first slip, and she made the most of her slice of luck, hitting 10 fours and one maximum on her way to her third fifty in four Women’s National Cricket League innings since making her return from illness.

But as happened in Tuesday’s first match between the sides, Lanning was again the only Victoria batter to look comfortable at the crease as wickets tumbled at the other end.

Courtney Sippel proved a handful, picking up 4-40, while teen leg-spinner Grace Parsons was also effective, taking 3-36 from her nine overs.

Lanning got some support from No.8 Rhys McKenna who contributed 24 off 32 and importantly, gave her senior teammate more time to bat.

Sophie Reid (17) and Ella Hayward (11) were the other batters to reach double figures sin a Victoria line-up missing the talents of internationals Ellyse Perry, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Wareham and Kim Garth, and the injured Tess Flintoff.

The WNCL now takes a break for Weber WBBL|09 and will return in December.

WNCL 2023-24 Standings

Team	Matches played M	Wins W	Losses L	Ties T	No results N/R	Net Run Rate NRR	Deductions Ded.	Batting Bonus Bat	Total points PTS
1 Tasmanian Tigers Women TAS	12	9	2	0	1	0.98	0	5	43
2 Queensland Fire QLD	12	8	3	0	1	1.224	0	7	41
3 Victoria Women VIC	12	7	5	0	0	0.013	0	4	32
4 Western Australia Women WA	12	6	6	0	0	-0.113	0	4	28
5 NSW Women NSW	12	6	6	0	0	-0.105	0	2	26
6 South Australia Women SA	12	4	8	0	0	-0.063	0	3	19
7 ACT Meteors ACT	12	1	11	0	0	-2.006	0	0	4

Legend

M: Matches played

W: Wins

L: Losses

T: Ties

N/R: No results

NRR: Net Run Rate

Ded.: Deductions

Bat: Batting Bonus

PTS: Total points

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