Sydney Thunder 170 for 5 (Knight 59*, Litchfield 40, Jonassen 3-22) beat Brisbane Heat 151 (Knott 55, G Harris 41, Bates 4-25) by 19 runs
After being sent in to bat, Thunder were 13 for 0 in the third over when Georgia Voll was dropped by Laura Harris on 2. Voll would go on to score 22, but more importantly she combined with Athapaththu for a quick-fire 52-run opening stand to give Thunder the perfect platform to launch.
Athapaththu and Litchfield cracked seven boundaries apiece, and Knight went into overdrive later in the innings as Heat’s bowlers struggled to contain the star-studded battling line-up.
Heat needed to make a fast start to their run chase, and opener Grace Harris received three slices of luck during her blistering knock. She was on 5 when she gloved a spinning Bates delivery through to the keeper. The appeal was turned down, and Thunder decided not to review it, but replays showed it clearly came off her glove. Harris was then dropped on 26 and 32, but was eventually out when she was caught in the deep from a Taneale Peschel full toss.
Knott cracked six fours and a six to notch her maiden WBBL half-century and give Heat a chance, but their victory hopes came crumbling down when she was bowled by Bates who now has 12 wickets from four games in what has been a sizzling start to the season for the 28-year-old.
“I don’t know if there’s a real secret behind [my form]. It’s nice to be contributing finally,” Bates told Fox Cricket. “I had a pretty ordinary season last year, so I reflected quite a bit on that. I changed some little things and they’re paying off, which is nice.”
