Suzie Bates entered 2019 in solid fashion and while we are now lacking the spectacular dominance from our Kiwis in WBBL, there were a couple more decent efforts from Sophie Devine, Amy Satterthwaite and Lea Tahuhu. Four games involved kiwis during the week, starting on the 31st and stretching to today, January 4th where we have a day off in WBBL04 ahead of the weekend.

Despite suffering a loss to Sydney Sixers, Bates and Devine did their best to lead Adelaide Strikers on New Years Eve. Devine took 2w @ 8.33 as the Sixers reached 147/4 from their 20 overs as Sara McGlashan contributed 1 run for the Sixers, before Bates hit 60 off 58 in the Strikers innings. Unfortunately, Devine was gone for 1 and the Strikers were left stranded on 139/8 with Bates dismissed in the 17th over to flip the game in favour of the Sixers.

This was the only game for Adelaide during the week and we've not got Devine and Bates both in the top-six for runs. Devine is 4th with 311 runs @ 38.87av/135.80sr and Bates is the big mover with 287 runs @ 41avg/115.72sr. 2w for Devine takes her up to 10w @ 23.50avg/9.65rpo and the Strikers are back in action tomorrow (Saturday) to take on the kiwi-less Brisbane Heat.

McGlashan and her Sixers then lost to Rachel Priest's Sydney Thunder on the 2nd, without much input from the kiwis. McGlashan can't reach double-figures (couple not outs so not terrible) and backed up her 1 vs Adelaide with 7 in this game as the Sixers hit 98/7 from their 20 overs, an easy chase for the Thunder who reached their target in 17.4ov. Priest though, could only manage 4 runs.

We also had two wins for Melbourne Renegades; vs Melbourne Stars on Jan 1st, then vs Hobart Hurriances on Jan 3rd. Sattertwhaite hit 8 off 7 as the Renegades put up 149/5 in the Melbourne derby and Tahuhu bowled a tight spell of 1w @ 5.50rpo to help restrict the Stars to 101/ and seal the win. Tahuhu then took 2w @ 7rpo to keep Hobart to 115/8 and Satterthwaite chimed in with 28 off 35 to lead the Renegades to victory in the 19th over.

Satterthwaite still has a top-score of 38, but in 6 of her last 7inns she has scored 20+.Tahuhu now has 8w @ 27.50avg/7.21rpo and after three games without a wicket, Tahuhu is now chasing her third game with a wicket. Renegades are back in action on Sunday v Brisbane Heat.

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Peace and love 27.