Grace Harris' century helps Brisbane Heat claim first win of WBBL
Grace Harris scored a century and picked up four wicket as Brisbane Heat beat Sydney Sixers in Perth, to claim their first win of the Rebel Women’s Big Bash League. On the back of Harris’ hundred, Heat posted 190 in their 20 overs, but Sixers could only manage 155 in reply.
After winning the toss and choosing to bat, Harris’ opening partner Beth Mooney kicked things off by scoring the first three boundaries, but from then onwards it was the “Harris show”. It all started with 16 runs off Lisa Sthalekar’s second over, which included two fours and a six.
The final over of the powerplay went for 22 runs as Harris smashed two sixes and two fours as the Heat ended at 60/0 after six overs. She got to her fifty off 31 balls, in the ninth over and her opening partner followed suit a few overs later.
By that time though, Harris was closing in on the tournament’s first century. Despite losing her partner for 57 with the score at 156, she carried on and got to her hundred off just 52 balls.
Her innings, which included 14 fours and 4 sixes finally came to an end in the 18th over as he she fell for 103, finishing with a staggering strike rate of 187.3 Although she got out for 103, not only was it the highest score of the tournament, but also helped her climb to the top of the runs tally.
Buoyed by Harris’ hundred, Heat finished with 190, the highest score of the WBBL till date. The task was always going to be a hard one for the Sixers, who like the Heat hadn’t won a game in the WBBL so far,
Although they got off to a decent start, unlike earlier in the day, when they were 35-8 in their loss to Perth Scorchers, the target proved to be too much for Ellyse Perry‘s side, who couldn’t make the most of a solid platform.
By the time Harris came on to bowl, the Sixers needed 60 off three overs with seven wickets in hand. Barely an hour after making the willow sing, she made the ball talk as well as she finished with four wickets in her two overs, to finish with figures of 2-0-15-4.
New Zealand international Sara McGlashan top scored for the Sixers with 61 off just 29 balls, but it wasn’t enough as the Sixers lost for the second time on Saturday, this time by 35 runs.
The win will come as a welcome relief for Heat skipper Delissa Kimmince, after losing their opening three games. Sixers won’t want a repeat of the result, when the two sides meet each other again on Sunday.
Scorecard:
Brisbane Heat Women won the toss and chose to field
Brisbane Heat Women:
BL Mooney 57 (46) GM Harris 103 (55) JL Jonassen 6 (5) L Harris 7 (8) L Winfield 10 (7) Total 190/3 Bowling:
Overs Runs Wickets M Kapp 4 23 0 LC Sthalekar 2 21 0 EA Perry 4 30 0 SE Aley 2 35 0 LA Marsh 3 17 3 AR Reaks 3 32 0 RS Dick 2 26 0 Sydney Sixers Women:
LA Marsh 19 (24) M Kapp 23 (22) EA Perry 24 (27) SJ McGlashan 61 (29) SE Aley 3 (6) LC Sthalekar 3 (4) A Gardner 7 (5) SL Hungerford 6* (3) RS Dick 0* (0) Total 155/7 Bowling:
Overs Runs Wickets C Hill 2 18 0 JL Jonassen 4 16 0 HL Ferling 4 30 0 JL Barsby 4 27 3 KL Cross 3 30 0 DM Kimmince 1 18 0 GM Harris 2 15 4