Melbourne Renegades win their first ever WBBL title
The rain-marred finals of the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) went down to the wire as Melbourne Renegades, who reached this deep into the tournament for the first time in 10 editions, made a huge turnaround topping the two-time title winners Brisbane Heat to clinch their first ever WBBL trophy at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday. Hayley Matthews starred in the game as her all-round performance helped the team over the line.
Being put into bat first Brisbane Heat captain Jess Jonassen, Renegades lost their first three wickets in the powerplay, in quick succession, with Charli Knott picking up two wickets. Opener Hayley Matthews showed her grit and fought through the entire innings, scoring 69 off 61 balls, helping the team reach a total of 141.
The Brisbane Heats, looking to clinch their third WBBL title, got off to a bad start too, losing two of their top order batters, Grace Harris and Jemimah Rodriguez, in quick succession before rain forced the players off the field, the score being 15/2 in 3.2 overs. The new target for Heat was to get 98 in 12 overs as per DLS method, but the Renegades didn’t let go of the hold they had on Heat, and picked up the third wicket in the 4th over.
With the required run rate creeping up and pressure building on the batsmen, skipper Sophie Molineux decided to hand the ball to Hayley Matthews in the seventh over. Though she started off conceding a boundary to the opposition captain, she immediately struck back to get the wicket of Charli Knott, who found the safe hands of Georgia Prestwidge at deep mid-wicket, and the very next ball saw Laura Harris have her off-stump rattled.
The captain kept the scoreboard moving, eventually getting the equation to 19 to win off the last over. The captain of the Renegades decided to take it upon herself to defend the score, and her composure helped her deliver a near perfect final over, helping the first time finals become first time winners of the WBBL.
