2020/21 Kiwi-WBBL #3
After an almighty rough patch for the kiwi wahine in WBBL compared to the standard dose of kiwi WBBL dominance, Amelia Kerr has bagged 7w in her last two games while Sophie Devine cracked her first century of the tournament. Unfortunately, Suzie Bates made her comeback from injury and scored 28 for Adelaide Strikers only to go down injured in the field which will likely see Bates now miss a bunch of the Aotearoa summer.
Here's how the kiwi stats look now that every team has played eight games...
Sophie Devine: 182 runs @ 30.33avg/120.52sr, 7th in runs.
Rachel Priest: 180 runs @ 36avg/116.12sr, 8th in runs.
Amelia Kerr: 8w @ 16.75avg/5.95rpo in 22.3ov, 9th in wickets.
Rosemary Mair: 5w @ 15.20avg/5.42rpo in 14ov.
Amy Satterthwaite: 78 runs @ 13avg/66.66sr.
Maddy Green: 69 runs @ 11.50avg/92sr.
Lauren Down has been getting game time alongside Devine with Perth Scorchers, playing five games so far and batting in three of those games with scores of 3, 11 and 0*.
Ideally, the slight trend of greater kiwi contributions can hit a nek level in the coming set of games because at this stage there are no kiwis in the top three teams. Melbourne Stars are 1st on 13 points, then both Sydney teams are on 10 points and then there is a kiwi in each of the other five teams; the three best teams have no kiwis, the other five teams have kiwis.
That may change though as Devine's Perth Scorchers are 4th on 8 points and they have won their last two games. Devine smacked 103 @ 151.47sr against Sydney Sixers and there was an encouraging sign in the next game vs Sixers as Devine only scored 4 runs, while the Scorchers were still able to chase down their target for the second win in a row. Devine's currently playing second fiddle to Beth Mooney who opens with Devine for the Scorchers and Mooney is currently leading all run-scorers, giving Perth two of the leading batswomen.
Rachel Priest has been a wee bit more consistent than Devine with Hobart Hurricanes, scoring 5, 83* and 42 since the last check in. Hobart are stuck down the bottom of the ladder with Melbourne Renegades and that isn't Priest's fault as she is the only Hobart player in the top-15 for runs and that's the same case for Amy Satterthwaite's Renegades as they have one batswomen in the top-20 for runs.
Satterthwaite has scores of 19, 1 and 30 in the recent stanza of games. That's not horrible, although by Satterthwaite's standards it isn't the status-quo and when viewed in the entirety of the tournament, it's far from ideal. The struggles are obviously evident in averaging 13, yet a strike-rate of 66.66 is the most notable sign of Satterthwaite being in a niggly patch of form and this is lowest strike-rate of the top-50 batswomen in WBBL this season. Not only that, Satterthwaite is the only player in the top-50 with a strike-rate below 70.
Brisbane Heat are a team to keep an eye, not quite at the Perth Scorchers level where Devine could ride a wave deep into the knockout stages, but as Kerr is finding her form things could get funky. The Heat lost two games, then snared a win in this recent stretch of games and there are promising signs given that Kerr had four games without a wicket, then bagging 3w and 4w in the last two games.
There has also been a shift in role for Maddy Green as she has batted in the middle order in the last two games, after opening the batting to start the campaign. That move resulted in Grace Harris moving up to open and she smacked 81* @ 155.76sr in the first game opening, while Green was dismissed for a duck in that game batting #4 and wasn't required to bat in the next game as it was regular opener Georgia Redmayne's turn to smack 59* @ 131.11sr; both Harris and Redmayne are among the leading run-scorers.
At the very least, Green has a strike-rate of 92 and if she is to continue batting in the middle order, the focus will shift to how quickly Green can score. Brisbane's best batswomen are their current top-three with Jess Jonassen batting #3, which will hopefully allow Green to settle down in the middle order and polish off innings as opposed to starting them.
The next splash of games follow the same cycle with games on Saturday and Sunday, then some mid-week fixtures. Devine and Kerr are shaping up as crucial players over this period as they've found some form and strong contributions from these two will be a massive boost for their respective teams chasing wins.
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Peace and love.