Match 45 – Sydney Thunder Women vs Melbourne Stars Women at Bankstown Oval, Sydney

 
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Playing XI of Sydney Thunder – Rachael Haynes, Rachel Priest (wk), Naomi Stalenberg, Harmanpreet Kaur, Alex Blackwell (c), Stafanie Taylor, Nicola Carey, Rachel Trenaman, Maisy Gibson, Lisa Griffith, Samantha Bates

Playing XI of Melbourne Stars – Lizelle Lee, Angela Reakes, Mignon du Preez, Erin Osborne (c), Georgia Elwiss, Katie Mack, Annabel Sutherland, Nicola Hancock, Nicole Faltum (wk), Alana King, Holly Ferling

Toss – Won by Melbourne Stars Women and elected to bowl first

1^st Innings Summary – Rachael Priest got a start but could not capitalize on the opportunity and lost her wicket in fourth over. Rachael Haynes and Naomi Stalenberg played cautiously with two wickets falling in seventh over, put Sydney Thunder on backfoot. But middle order batters Nicole Carey and Rachel Trenaman put up a brave fight and made 50 runs in the last five overs without losing any wicket.

2^nd Innings Summary – Chasing a small total, Melbourne Stars openers started calmly and focused more on keeping wickets in end. They knew well that once the batters are set, it would be easy to accelerate the run-rate and reach the target. But Maisy Gibson and Stafanie Taylor played the spoilsport sending half of the batting side back to the pavilion by the end of 15^th over. The match was still open as Perth Scorchers needed just 12 runs from the last over to win the match. But Nicola Carey bolwed excellently securing a thrilling win for her team.

Player of the match – Nicola Carey for making the most valuable contribution of 39 runs in death overs, getting the opponent’s skipper out for a duck and brilliant last over bowling

Brief scorecard:

Sydney Thunder Women – 122/6 (20 overs)

Melbourne Stars Women – 117/9 (20 overs)

Result – Sydney Thunder Women won by 5 runs