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That brings us to the end of our coverage of the first of two WBBL games for the day. The second one - a clash between the Sydney Sixers and the Adelaide Strikers - is set to begin in just under an hour and a half's time. Join us right here on Sportskeeda for our coverage of the same! This is Rajarshi, signing off on behalf of Rudransh for now. See you later!
Lauren Smith: Keeping pretty good. We are in a pretty good state. I just like to make sure the umpire knows I am really pleading for the wicket! I think for me keeping the ball in the pocket is just a bit of routine to slow down the game. There were only slight change of pace, maybe a bit from around the wicket. Very simple plans for me: keep the stumps in play. Everything's very structured. As you know any width and or short gets punished. We keep it pretty simple at Sydney Thunder.
Match summary:
Sydney Thunder women win by 9 wickets with 23 balls to spare
Chamari Athapaththu 77*(53) | Lauren Smith 2/12 (4) Amy Ellen Jones 37(16)
The chase began a touch slowly, mainly owing to the slow nature of the deck. Phoebe Litchfield, having had the bulk of strike in the first couple of overs, had a good look at it, and got into her groove with a dismissive maximum off Peschel in the 2nd over. However, a complete breakdown in communication with her new opening partner - Chamari Athapaththu brought about a premature end to her innings.
The Scorchers felt they were in the hunt right then with an early wicket. But then, Athapaththu began to get going, and soon enough, the boundary ropes were being hit rather frequently by the Sri Lankan. Heather Knight, having walked in at three, played a role of second-fiddle to perfection as the duo knocked it around for ones and twos post the powerplay.
While Alana King kept things tidy in her first over, Athapaththu was always going to take on a favourable match-up. She did in the leggie's second over, dispatching her for back-to-back boundaries. By the halfway stage, the Thunder had control of the run-chase, needing 52 at well under run-a-ball. Athapaththu got a move-on post that, finding the boundaries at will, and the Thunder, with this win, get a firmer grip of a position close to the top of the table.
Light work! The Scorchers tried to make a match out of it in the powerplay, but Chamari Athapaththu, along with Heather Knight, steers the Thunder towards a resounding victory!
16.1 Amy Louise Edgar to Chamari Athapaththu, FOUR! THAT'LL DO! Floated up on the off, Chamari finds it on the full and drills it past deep covers! She shows a bit of swagger and pushes her bat under her arm and walks out. She has batted like a boss!
Amy Edgar (3-0-12-0) is back into the attack
The scores are level with 4 overs remaining. Athapaththu has the strike - one of those slogs down the ground is on the cards, for sure!
16
overs
116/1score
4
6
1
0
1
1
runs
Chamari Atapattu*
73(52)
Heather Knight
32(34)
Sophie Devine
0/31
15.6 Sophie Devine to Chamari Athapaththu, good length ball on the leg-stump, pushed to deep mid-wicket for one. The scores are level.
15.5 Sophie Devine to Heather Knight, short on the body, Knight pulls it to deep square for one
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Sydney Cricket Ground
Chamari Atapattu
*
Sophie Devine
Video
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