Beth Mooney’s 9th fifty of the season and another all-round performance from Jonassen helped Brisbane Heat successfully defend the championship defeating Adelaide Strikers by 6 wickets at Brisbane on Sunday.
Winning the toss, Brisbane Heat opted to bowl in a final which was a shocking move from the defending champions.
Opening the inning, all hopes were on Devine for one last sensational innings on all-important finals. Sadly, she failed on the day which matters the most as she got out for a single digit by scoring just 6 runs, she was dismissed by Prestwidge who was excellent with her medium pace bowling.
Though Devine got out early. The skipper Bates and all-rounder McGrath took the responsibility of setting a good target and both scored 27 and 33 respectively. The foundation was set by both and they were dismissed by Johnson and Kerr who stopped them from scoring big.
Once they got out, it was the young leg-spinning all-rounder Amanda Wellington scored her first Half-century of the season which included an inning of 55 runs with 10 boundaries in just 33 balls helped Strikers to set a target of 162. Strikers lost 7 wickets in setting the target and credits to the bowlers specially Prestwidge and Jonassen who picked up a couple of wickets each.
Chasing the target of 162, the most successful batter for Heat, Beth Mooney took the chase on shoulders, she played a match-winning inning of 56 not out including 5 about in 45 balls. She lost her opening partner early but she got good support from the most senior player Jonassen who scored an important cameo of 33.
Also, the lightning innings from Johnson of 27 runs in just 11 balls including 4 huge sixes helped Heat to chase the target within 18.1 overs.
On the whole, though the score was high, it was the all-round performance from all-rounders and Mooney made the chase easy and helped them to retain the championship defeating Strikers by 6 wickets.
Brief Scores: Strikers 161 for 7 in 20 overs ( Wellington 55 & Jonassen 2 for 30) lost to Heat 162 for 4 in 18.1 overs (Mooney 56* & Coyte 1 for 27) by 6 wickets
Loves all things female cricket