#KiwisWBBL03 Onu: Taking Stock
Melbourne Renegades almost had a silly little mishap in their win over Sydney Sixers, it was only right that they did eventually go on to win in a super over though. Only right because Amy Satterthwaite top-scored with 44 off 44 balls and when Renegades win games, Satterthwaite is their best player.
Melbourne began their celebrations too early, thus allowing a second run off the last ball to tie the scores in a weird ol' scene after Satterthwaite's knock helped them put up 120/7. Lea Tahuhu wasn't playing for Renegades and Sara McGlashan was run-out on 2 for Sixers, leaving Satterthwaite to conceded just 5.25rpo off her 4 overs with a wicket in another 'follow me' performance from the Renegades skipper.
Satterthwaite faced a ball in the super over and scored a run off it, helping Renegades hit a required 8 runs from their super over. This win put the Renegades into 4th, ahead of Suzie Bates and Sophie Devine's Adelaide Strikers who are 5th, while no kiwi is in in bottom-3 teams. Thamsyn Newton's Perth Scorchers are 3rd, McGlashan's Sixers are 2nd and Rachel Priest's Sydney Thunder are 1st.
Renegades (7) and Sixers (8) have played extra games so far compared to Strikers, Scorchers and Thunder who have played 6 games.
With 203 runs from 6inns @ 33.83avg/115.34sr and 7w @ 21.14avg/6.72rpo, Satterthwaite is one of the best all-round players in WBBL03 and although she's only hit one 50+ score, she has regularly chipped in with runs as Renegades' leading run-scorer. She plays her role in a strong Renegades bowling attack as well, not as dominant as Tahuhu, who has 8w @ 19.87avg/7.63rpo and is putting together a vastly improved WBBL campaign compared to last season; if Tahuhu's conceding less than 8rpo, she's a nightmare.
Sattertwhaite is the 4th-best Renegades bowler, joining two other Renegades on 7w but she's slightly more expensive. If Tahuhu can maintain her wickets without going over 8rpo and Satterthwaite can get her batting over 35avg/120sr, Renegades will be a team to watch as we head into finals cricket.
Renegades are trending upwards, Satterthwaite especially, while Devine and Bates aren't. Devine started WBBL03 on fire with back to back 40s and she took 7w in her first 4 games, but in her last 2 games she has no wickets and 23 runs.
Bates was also sizzling in the opening stanza; 31, 102, 24 and 63. That's followed by a 1 and 32, which isn't a drastic drop off but they game in back to back losses to Brisbane Heat, taking Adelaide from 3-1 to 3-3. Just like Renegades need Satterthwaite to lead them, Strikers need Bates and Devine to be firing and the beauty here is that this only requires Bates to consistently score runs and Devine to keep taking wickets; they don't need to both be all-round unicorns.
Devine went wicket-less in those two losses to Brisbane and Bates scored 33 runs, so how they contribute in the next week will be crucial to Adelaide's finals hopes.
McGlashan is a bit of a non-factor for Sixers at the moment and that's all good, as long as she steps up when it matters most. As I've said all along, Sixers have the best batting group in WBBL, so don't trip when you see that McGlashan is averaging 12.83. Sure, that's not overly glorious, but McGlashan's experience will be handy as we progress through WBBL03.
Sydney Thunder are 1st, yet Rachel Priest's individual performances don't really reflect this; 102 runs from 5inns @ 20.40avg/107.36sr. That's not so bad when you consider that only two other Thunder batters have more runs than Priest and one of them is Rachael Haynes, who is 3rd in runs, with 290 @ 58avg/139.42sr.
Alex Blackwell is also averaging 43.66, giving Thunder two reliable run-scorers. Stafanie Taylor's taken 9w @ 10.33avg/6.34rpo, yet they will need stronger team contributions if they are going to maintain their nice form. That'll start with Priest as opposition teams with put more pressure on Haynes and Blackwell and Priest will need to play her role, helping to knock out scores of 30+ consistently.
For Thamsyn Newton, her debut WBBL campaign has gone as per expected - playing a limited role in a strong Scorchers team. Newton has played 5 games of a possible 6 and has 5w in 10.5ov @ 19.40avg/9.13rpo, only bowling 2-3 overs when she is asked to bowl during the middle stages of innings'.
Despite a limited role, Newton has largely done her job and I'll be intrigued by her usage as games get more intense. She has shown a knack for taking key wickets during those middle overs and while she might not be asked to bowl 4ov, she can still have a major influence in 2ov and flip a game in favour of Perth.
That'll start over the weekend with Newton taking on Priest's Thunder on Sunday and Monday. Whether Newton plays and her involvement will be interesting here against the leading WBBL03 team.
Bates, Devine and Satterthwaite will be looking to cash in against Melbourne Stars, with Stars playing three games over the weekend. Strikers play Stars on Friday and Tuesday, with Renegades playing them on Saturday and as Stars aren't likely to win any of these games, I'll be very interested in how Bates and Devine perform for Strikers. Devine especially, hasn't gone bang or taken any wickets in her last two games and she could find a nice return to form against the struggling Stars.
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Peace and love 27.