In a couple days the Women's Big Bash League finals will be played and everything has worked out nicely for Sophie Devine's Perth Scorchers and the Brisbane Heat featuring Amelia Kerr and Maddy Green as they'll be playing in different semi-finals. That opens the door for a best-case scenario in which the three kiwi wahine left in WBBL06 can play the final against each other and given that Melbourne Stars finished in the top spot, a quick shout out to Rosemary Mair is in order.

Mair played two games for the Stars, her first and last in this WBBL with five games for Melbourne Renegades bumping out Mair's campaign. As noted in the last Kiwi-WBBL check in, Mair lost her Stars spot to England international Katherine Brunt and despite taking 3w @ 7.50rpo, it seems as though Mair's tournament is over as she won't be required with the Stars at full strength. That leaves Mair as one of the sneaky best bowlers in WBBL06 and unable to get 1st 11 game time - all of which could change quickly if there's another injury etc.

Playing for the 4-8 Renegades (7th) and 8-3 Stars (1st) put Mair in a weird ol' situation where she was playing for a struggling team as well as the best team. Mair finished with 8w @ 18.37avg/6.68rpo and if the stars had aligned for Mair to play more than her seven games (6inns), based on how she performed when she was playing there would have been a decent chance of Mair finishing closer to the top-10 bowlers; Mair finished in 31st spot and is the only bowler with 8+ wickets who bowled in less than 10inns (6inns!!).

For context, veteran White Ferns seamer Lea Tahuhu took 4w @ 29avg/6.82rpo in 5inns. Tahuhu missed the opening stages of the tournament via injury, opening a spot up for Mair and when Tahuhu returned, Mair fell out of that mix and played for the Stars. Amy Satterthwaite couldn't drag her Renegades into a more competitive space and as Satterthwaite was coming off a long break, while also trying to raise a baby in a bubble environment there is no need to dissect Satterthwaite's relatively under-whelming tournament.

With 204 runs @ 20.40avg/78.16sr, this is Satterthwaite's first WBBL in which her batting average has gone below 25. There will be no Suzie Bates for the White Ferns in their upcoming international fixtures, so the key thing in Aotearoa women's cricket right now is how Satterthwaite performs for the White Ferns in ODI and T20I cricket.

Brisbane Heat won their games vs Melbourne Stars and Melbourne Renegades over the weekend and this played out as per the status-quo for Amelia Kerr and Maddy Green. Kerr took 1w @ 5.75rpo vs Stars, again snaring a key wicket in Stars opener Elyse Villani and then 2w @ 6rpo vs Renegades. Kerr is the most economical bowler in the top-10, as well as the only bowler to concede less than 6rpo in the top-five. Kerr now has 16w @ 15.56avg/5.37rpo and Kerr has eight consecutive games with a wicket.

Kerr also smacked 35* @ 134.61sr, batting #5 and that is funky for a couple reasons as Kerr batted in the same spot where Green's been batting before she missed out on the second game of the weekend. Whether this was a case of an injury, giving Green a break ahead of the finals, or fine-tuning for the best playing 11 is the question here. Green started off opening for the Heat and was then placed in the middle order, with the prospect of Green missing out on the semi-finals low key likely as she has been unable to do anything of note with the willow; 129 runs @ 12.90avg/88.96sr.

The fact that Kerr isn't too far behind with 96 runs @ 12avg/96.96sr helps lay this out even further. While there is a definite trend of Green not quite being as effective as her consistent White Ferns selection suggests, in the context of this Brisbane Heat team there is more a vibe of Green fitting into wider struggles. The best Heat batswoman is Georgia Redmayne who is 11th with 33.20avg and Redmayne is the only Heat player averaging 30+, while along with Grace Harris's 24avg they are the only Heat players averaging above 20.

It's a different story with the Heat bowlers. Spinners Kerr, Jess Jonassen and Harris all have 13+ wickets and are in the top-10 for wickets, all averaging below 20. The Heat have three other bowlers averaging below 25 with 7+ wickets, telling us that the Heat are in the semi-finals via their bowling dominance and this will need to continue in the finals. Kerr fits into a dominant bowling unit, Green fits into a struggling batting group.

Sophie Devine heads into finals cricket with scores of 103, 4, 77*, 45, 87* and 57.

Having missed the mid-week games due to injury, Devine bounced back with the scores of 87* and 57 to maintain her place among the best batswomen. Devine is currently third in runs with 448 runs @ 56avg/130.23sr, while her Scorchers opening partner Beth Mooney is first in runs with 524 runs @ 58.22avg/119.36sr.

Alyssa Healy (Sydney Sixers) is the only other player with a century along with Devine and of the 22 players with 200+ runs, Devine and Healy are the only two with strike-rates over 130. Here are Devine's WBBL averages...

2015/16: 18.66avg.

2016/15: 38.57avg.

2017/18: 25.35avg.

2018/19: 46.33avg.

2019/20: 76.90avg.

2020/21: 56avg.

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Peace and love.