2022 Kiwi-WBBL: Further Amelia Kerr Development And Kiwis Thriving
Three of the top four Women's Big Bash League teams feature kiwis with Suzie Bates, Amelia Kerr, Sophie Devine and Maddy Green continuing their impressive WBBL mahi. Lea Tahuhu sits at the bottom of the WBBL table and two losses for Sydney Thunder (1-7) featured back to back games with no wickets from Tahuhu.
Tahuhu currently has 4w @ 38.5avg/7rpo and she has taken no wickets in five of her seven games. Thunder are highly unlikely to play WBBL finals, while Hobart Hurricanes (4-3) are on the fringe of finals and Hayley Jensen is yet to find her best bowling form. Jensen has 2w @ 50avg/6rpo and she didn't take a wicket in the two games since last week's update, now in a streak of three games with no wickets. Jensen's 2w came in one game, giving her no wickets in five of six games.
Jensen's most recent outing was a loss to Brisbane Heat (6-3) in which Laura Harris blasted 68* @ 234.48sr to snatch a win away from Hobart. Harris formed a partnership with Kerr and while Harris commanded attention with her knock, Kerr quietly hit 41 runs @ 124.24sr with classy strokes. Prior to batting, Kerr had taken a wicket and finished as Heat's most economical bowler against Hobart.
Kerr now has eight consecutive games with a wicket and the only game she didn't take a wicket was Heat's first game. Kerr has 12w @ 20.25avg/6.75rpo and is ranked 10th for WBBL bowlers, while Kerr is also the busiest WBBL bowler as no one has bowled more deliveries than Kerr's 36 overs of leg-spin.
Heat have four bowlers with 11+ wickets including Jess Jonassen who leads all bowlers with 17w and this allows Kerr to play her role in the Heat bowling unit. Heat have the leading run-scorer Georgia Redmayne and while Kerr is fourth for Heat runs (also fourth for wickets), only one batter in WBBL has more runs and a higher strike-rate than Kerr.
Kerr has 164 runs @ 27.33avg/118.84sr and she continues to showcase her batting development through the quality of her attacking shots. Kerr is the most reliable Heat bowler as she bowls the most overs and is their most economical option, plus Kerr is a fun middle-order batter who can reset an innings due to early wickets or smack boundaries over cover and mid-wicket.
Heat bid farewell to Jess Kerr and the comparison between her and Indian seamer Pooja Vastrakar is still funky...
Jess Kerr: 12ov, 4w @ 15.75avg/5.25rpo.
Pooja Vastrakar: 17ov, 2w @ 70avg/8.23rpo.
Heat face Perth Scorchers (5-3) tonight and this is a crucial game as they sit third and fourth in the table. Devine and Green scored runs in their most recent game, although Devine's 37 runs @ 112.12sr and Green's 36 runs @ 97.29sr came in a loss to Strikers. Devine now has 117 runs @ 16.71avg/101.73sr and as Scorchers need wins to keep their finals spot, how Devine performs in this stanza of WBBL is an funky wrinkle.
Devine has a wicket in five of her eight games for 5w @ 35avg/6.6rpo. Devine has been below par with bat and ball, although she is still shining as the skipper of a winning team. Scorchers can compete at a high level without Devine's best mahi as they have Beth Mooney sitting second for WBBL runs, plus they have a strong bowling unit led by internationals Alana King and Marizanne Kapp.
Devine seems likely to explode with runs and/or wickets at some point in this tournament though. A key element of this is Devine's batting strike-rate of 101.73 which is well below her T20I strike-rate of 121.48 and last year's 128.48sr in Scorcher's championship campaign. Batting alongside Mooney and with others like Green elevating their contributions, Devine could find a destructive pocket where she doesn't need to face many deliveries.
Green has scores of 31 and 36 in her last two outings, taking her to three 30+ scores in seven innings. Green is second for Scorchers runs and she doesn't just have a higher strike-rate than Devine; Green has three sixes and Devine has just one.
Bates has scores of 5 and 22 since the last update, with the knock of 22 runs (100sr) coming in a loss to Scorchers. Bates is fourth for WBBL runs (230 runs @ 38.33avg/109.52sr) and Sydney Sixers (6-2) have three batters with 200+ runs which is the most of any team. Bates has the most runs for the best team and the stacked Sixers side will play Melbourne Renegades (2-7) tomorrow.
Join the Niche Cache Patreon whanau to support our kiwi sports content straight up, get a karma boost and find extra podcasts.
Every Monday and Friday we fire off an email newsletter with bonus content. Sign up here!
Peace and love.