After the opening weekend of Women's Big Bash League cricket, we have already seen how influential Aotearoa's best cricketers can be and we've already been given an early taste of how damaging Suzie Bates and Sophie Devine could be for Adelaide Strikers. All the other kiwis were in action as well, without doing anything too crazy and it was glorious to see Thamsyn Newton start in Perth Scorcher's first game.

But yo; Suzie and Sophie...

The didn't open together, which was a bit of a bummer but how can thou complain? Adelaide played two games against Hobart Hurricanes and won both of them, batting first in either game as well. Bates didn't go big in the first game, although her 31 did come with a strike-rate of 129.16 which is excellent and got the innings off to a strong start, laying the platform for Devine to come and smoke boundaries at #4.

Devine hit 46 @ 219.04sr and took the Strikers to 183/3 off their 20 overs, scoring @ 9.15rpo. Hobart responded with 138/9 off their 20 overs and the kiwi duo also featured with the ball, both bowling 4 overs @ 6.66rpo. Devine chipped in with 2w, while Bates couldn't manage a wicket and she didn't really need to.

In game two, two batters for Adelaide reached double figures.

Obviously they were Bates and Devine. Not only were they the only Adelaide batswomen to make any sort of contribution to Adelaide's 176/6 off 20 overs, they did so in typical fashion with Bates smacking 102 off just 65 balls @ 156.92sr and while Bates didn't hit a six, she hit 15 fours and left the sixes for Devine. 

The kiwis took Adelaide from 38/2 in the 6th over to 155/3 in the 18th over and Devine hit 43 @ 148.27sr with more sixes than fours. Devine hit just a single four, hitting 4 sixes. Bates is also Adelaide skipper, so shout outs for that and she decided to take an innings off as she didn't bowl. In dismissing Hobart for 93, Bates definitely wasn't required and Devine chimed in with 1w in 3ov @ 4.66rpo. 

After the first weekend, Bates is 2nd in runs (133 @ 66.50avg/149.43sr) and Devine is 4th (89 runs @ 89avg/178sr). 

Bates wasn't even the sole century hitter in the first round of games as Sara McGlashan's Sydney Sixers comrade Ashleigh Gardner hit 114 and with the Sixers' enjoying strong contributions from their star batters, McGlashan wasn't required to do much. Sixers are rolling out a top-three of Ellyse Perry, Alyssa Healy and Gardner, with Perry (3rd) and Gardner (1st) joining Bates in scoring over 100 runs in the first round. 

Gardner (185.05sr), Perry (153.73sr) and Healy (160.60sr) have been smoking it as well, leaving Melbourne Stars and Sydney Thunder scrambling in the Sixers' two wins. McGlashan chipped in with 4 runs off 4 balls before being run-out in the win over Stars and then scored 13* off 13 balls, to steer Sixers to victory over their Sydney rivals Thunder.

McGlashan came up against Rachel Priest in the Sydney derby and Priest could only manage 4 off 2 balls. This came after Priest hit 5 off 5 in Thunder's first up win over Melbourne Renegades, so it wasn't a great start for Priest other than a few catches behind the stumps. 

This was Renegades only game of the opening weekend and their kiwi duo of Lea Tahuhu and Amy Satterthwaite didn't do much either. Bowling first, Tahuhu took a wicket and a big wicket at that of Stafanie Taylor but also conceded 10.75rpo off her 4ov, while Satterthwaite conceded 9rpo off her 2ov without a wicket. Chasing 201 to win, Renegades could only muster 189/6 off their 20 overs and Satterthwaite was a non-factor with 5 off 9 when Renegades needed her to take a trip to boom-town.

Newton's Perth Scorchers also played just the one game, notching a win over Brisbane Heat. Batting down the order, Newton didn't face a ball for her 0* and Perth hit 188/6 off 20 overs. Newton did get through 3ov and took 2w @ 9rpo, dismissing two middle-order Brisbane batters as Heat were dangerous and Newton's wickets changed the course of the innings as she took a wicket in the 11th and 13th overs, thus bringing in the lower order Brisbane batswomen to maintain a required 8.50rpo.

Which they couldn't do. 

There are two games on Tuesday with McGlashan (Sixers) taking on Newton (Scorchers) and Priest's Thunder will face off against Melbourne Stars.

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Peace and love 27.