With a 30-run victory and a masterclass from Megan Schutt, the Adelaide Strikers severely damaged the Perth Scorchers’ aspirations of making it to the WBBL playoffs.
At Karen Rolton Oval, Strikers scored 169 for 6, with Laura Wolvaardt, Smriti Mandhana, and Katie Mack being the main contributors. As Schutt swept through the first order, the Scorchers fell to 17 for 4, putting their hopes of making the finals in jeopardy.
With two games remaining, the Scorchers are still in fifth position with eight points, and they are well behind the Hobart Hurricanes in fourth place in terms of run rate.
Strikers, the winners of the previous two competitions, moved up from the bottom of the standings to seventh place; they still have one game left and six points.
In the tenth over, they reached 81 when Sophie Devine’s bowling caught Mandhana at mid-off, capping a performance that included five fours and a six.
Mack made progress down the pitch just eight balls later, but a brilliantly flighted leg-spinner by Alana King stumped him.
With her quick-fire innings that included three fours and three sixes, including two off successive balls from Chloe Ainsworth, Wolvaardt quickly assumed the lead.
King concluded with another stumping on the final delivery, and she recorded stats of 3 for 29 after the South African fielder caught her on the cover boundary with three balls left.
When Schutt bowled Maddy Darke on the second delivery, the Scorchers’ run chase got off to a terrible start. Additionally, Schutt bowled Amy Edgar for a golden duck with a top-tier inswinger in the third over after removing Dayalan Hemalatha with successive deliveries, giving them figures of 3 for 6.
As the Scorchers collapsed to 17 for 4 from 3.3 overs, Beth Mooney, a veteran of the team, fell in the following over for 6 and denied Schutt a hat-trick. Despite their best efforts, captain Devine and new recruit Brooke Halliday were unable to complete the mission.
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