Hurricanes, Heat rise to big wins in Spring Challenge

Heat fire with ball to set up convincing win

Brisbane Heat have bought the ACT Meteors' unbeaten start to the T20 Spring Challenge to an end with an emphatic seven-wicket win at Allan Border Oval in Sydney.

The ACT came into the game as the only side in the competition with a perfect record to start their Spring Challenge campaign, but the Heat showed they were a class above, chasing down the Meteors total of 93 in just 12.2 overs.

It started with the Heat’s bowling attack restricting ACT to 1-12 after the first four overs as Sianna Ginger (3-14) claimed the first of her three wickets, dismissing opener Paris Bowdler for a second-ball duck.

Grace Lyons (6) didn’t last much longer losing her wicket to the dangerous Ginger two overs later and once Alisha Bates (16) was caught off the bowling of Lucy Hamilton (2-5), it went from bad to worse for the Meteors.

It only took the Heat eight more overs to dismiss the remaining batters and only allowing them to add 52 runs to their total to be all out for 93. Captain Carly Leeson again stood up for her side top scoring with 41 before eventually being dismissed by Ginger.

Mikayla Wrigley (32* off 30) and Laura Harris (17 off 14) got the Heat off to a fast start scoring 43 of the first four overs of the chase ending any hopes for a Meteors miracle win.

The ACT did show some fight late with Holly Ferling and Angelina Genford taking a wicket each, but the damage had already been done and Wrigley was able to finish what she started, hitting the winning runs.

Despite the loss, the ACT will still be a chance for the semi-finals later in the week, while the win for the Heats puts them firmly in the frame for the elusive spot.

Johnston leads the way in big Hurricanes victory

A half-century to allrounder Ruth Johnston has handed the Hobart Hurricanes their second consecutive win in the T20 Spring Challenge.

The Hurricanes won the toss and elected to bowl, a decision by captain Ellyse Vilani that paid off, with her side making light work of the Scorchers' first-innings total, winning by eight wickets with 29 nine balls to spare.

After a shaky start that saw Hayley Silver-Holmes' first over go for 15 runs, the Hurricane bowlers begun to put pressure on the Scorchers thanks to some economical bowling from Callie Wilson and Johnston (0-8)

Wilson, who recently signed her first WBBL contract with the Hurricanes, was the pick of the bowlers finishing with figures of 3-26 including the breakthrough wickets of Bhavisha Devchand (10) and Chloe Piparo (6).

The Scorchers were able to battle through thanks to Mikayla Hinkley who finished with 32 runs on the way to helping the Scorchers set a total of 137 for victory.

Opening the batting alongside Lizelle Lee, Johnston top scored with her 50 from 37 balls but early on it looked like her partner at the other end was going to repeat her heroics from Saturday night after racing away to 32 from just 20 balls.

But Lee was caught the next ball attempting to drive Chloe Bartholomew and then a mix up between Johnston and Nicola Carey (18) sent the latter back to sheds, Vilani came to the crease with intent.

The Hurricanes captain scored a quick fire 33 from 17 balls to get her side the win with plenty of time to spare alongside Johnston.

The victory is the second of the Spring Challenge for the Hurricanes who after starting the competition with a loss to the Melbourne Renegades, have put themselves in the frame for finals with dominant wins against Adelaide Strikers and now the Scorchers.

The regular season matches continue until Thursday before semi-finals and the final on Saturday, October 19 and Sunday, October 20 respectively.