WA stay in touch with top two after thrashing Meteors

Western Australia have romped to a 10-wicket win over ACT Meteors, creating a traffic jam at the top of the Women's National Cricket League table.

After bowling the Meteors out for 171, WA openers Chloe Piparo (78no from 84) and Maddy Darke (71no off 69) cruised to victory in 25 overs to claim a bonus point. 

It saw WA create a five-point gap in third spot ahead of fourth-ranked South Australia, while they sit behind Queensland (29 points) and Tasmania (28).

"The bowlers set us up, when you're only chasing 170 at the WACA it's nice, and to do it none down was really good," Piparo said.

"It's really massive for us to get two wins on the board after the (WBBL) break at home, we want to make this a fortress. 

"Me and Mads really love batting together, (especially) here at the WACA.

"She's come on in leaps and bounds and is a great asset to our team and I thought she kept really well as well."  

The Meteors had been bowled out for 151 batting first just two days prior, and after electing to do the same after winning the toss on Sunday, only managed to better that total by 20 runs.

Taneale Peschel (3-33) had the ACT under pressure immediately when she removed opener Grace Lyons (3) then had star bat and captain Katie Mack caught behind for a duck swiping at a wide ball.

Amy Edgar then trapped Rebecca Carter (17) lbw and Lilly Mills bowled Anie Wikman (9) to leave the Meteors 4-54.

Carly Leeson (50 off 70) and Olivia Porter (41 off 53) dug in with an 82-run partnership to briefly turn the tide and frustrate WA.

Teen young gun Chloe Ainsworth broke the stand when she got Porter top-edging to Ines McKeon and from there the Meteors lost 6-34 to be all out in the 39th over.

WA openers brought up a 50 partnership in eight overs as the Meteors failed to hang on to several chances.

They stamped their authority on the inexperienced ACT bowling attack, with Piparo overtaking Nicole Bolton as Western Australia's leading WNCL run scorer on her way to her half-century.

Western Australia will host NSW in the next round of WNCL action, while the Meteors head to Melbourne to play Victoria. 

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