2020/21 Kiwi-WBBL #4
Melbourne Stars and Brisbane Heat are perched at the top of the Women's Big Bash League, quietly making up for the downbuzz absence of Sophie Devine and Suzie Bates. Bates is scratched from the rest of WBBL6 and Devine will hopefully return asap after missing a couple games, which will see Devine add to her 304 runs @ 43.42avg/122.08sr and that still has Devine ranked 7th for the batswomen.
Rosemary Mair's journey through WBBL6 has been the highlight this year. Mair played one game for Melbourne Stars to get her campaign started, before playing five games for Melbourne Renegades and Lea Tahuhu's return to the Renegades from injury saw Mair slide back into the Stars team where she is likely to stay. Mair has performed well enough to make you wonder whether she is a better seam option right now than Tahuhu for the Renegade and while Mair's status as a replacement player may complicate that, plus Tahuhu's standing with the Renegades, Mair has done well enough to at least make you wonder.
For now, Mair is in the green of the Stars. Mair took 3w @ 7.50rpo in her mid-week outing for the Stars and having already caught the attention with 4w in her five Renegades games, there is a funky chance that Mair hits a nek level as her fit with the Stars is perfect. First and foremost, the Stars are currently 1st (8-1) and the Renegades are second to last in 7th (3-7).
That's because the Stars have England's Nat Sciver, a seamer who is 2nd in wickets with 16w @ 12avg/6.62rpo and Australian superstar Meg Lanning who is 2nd in runs with 381 runs @ 47.62avg/129.15sr. The Stars also have Aussie veteran Else Villani and South African star Mignon de Preez who are both in the top-10 for runs, with Lanning and Villani two of the eight batswomen who have scored 300+ runs.
Mair took the place of another England international Katherine Brunt mid-week, before Brunt returned to the Stars team and that's after Mair's 3w-haul. Hopefully the stars align for Mair to enjoy more opportunities with the Stars as it's an ideal situation for a younger seamer, bowling with two England internationals as well as a batting line up that will be confident of scoring big runs against any bowling attack. Worst case scenario is that Mair can't add to these games and that would still be all good given that Mair has put herself in the T20 market with a nice debut WBBL campaign.
As for Satterthwaite and Tahuhu with Melbourne Renegades, Tahuhu has 1w in her three games back while Satterthwaite is steadily gathering runs with 173 runs @ 21.62avg/74.89sr. That's not quite enough to lead the Renegades to wins, especially the strike-rate which has Satterthwaite holding things down as the key batswomen, just without the run-scoring support to make up for it.
Not much doing for Rachel Priest, who had scores of 14, 4 and 24 after scoring plenty of runs a week prior. Priest and Devine are the two kiwis with 300+ runs and Priest is slightly ahead of Devine, with 314 runs @ 39.25avg/122.65sr. Unfortunately, Hobart Hurricanes are in last spot (3-7) and Priest is a lone figure among the WBBL's best batters for Hobart.
Brisbane Heat are 2nd (6-4) and that's due to five wins in a row. Amelia Kerr took 1w @ 3.75rpo and Maddy Green scored 35 @ 102.94sr for the Heat to grab their first mid-week win vs Perth Scorchers, then Kerr snared 1w @ 4rpo and Green chimed in with 18 @ 85.71sr to defeat Sydney Sixers.
Kerr only took 1w in each of those games and they were crucial wickets in both games. First Kerr dismissed Beth Mooney who was on 49 for Perth and Mooney is currently leading all run-scorers in the WBBL, then Kerr dismissed Sydney Sixers' Ellyse Perry for 17 and Perry is currently 4th in WBBL runs. Kerr now has six consecutive games with a wicket, coinciding with the Heat's five game win-streak and Kerr is now 6th in wickets with 13w @ 15.53avg/5.26rpo.
Green registered two solid scores in the middle order for the Heat and while they don't bolster Green's 122 runs @ 13.55avg/92.42sr, Green is doing a job in a winning team. Chasing 138 vs Perth, Brisbane were 12/3 after 2 overs and Green rebuilt the innings with her knock of 35, batting through to 78/4 in the 13th over to set up the innings. Against Sydney Sixers, Green had the luxury of not needing to maintain a high run-scoring tempo and chipped away with middle order runs as the Heat cruised to victory in the 18th over.
The Heat's first seven games saw two rubbed out for rain, one win and four losses. Kerr took 1w in the first game, then four games without a wicket before the switch to more positive production. Green's performances have remained the same, although there was a move from opening to the middle order for Green half-way through the campaign that may have helped. As a role-player, Green's work looks a lot better in a winning team than a team that started their tournament with a win, then four losses.
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Peace and love.