A Beth Mooney masterclass has powered Perth Scorchers to a dominant nine-wicket win over Melbourne Renegades in their Women’s Big Bash League season opener at the WACA Ground.
The Scorchers made the early running by reducing the Renegades to 4-20 before letting the game slip from there, with fine hands from Georgia Wareham (62) and Nicole Faltum (48) ensuring the visitors reached a competitive total of 6-136.
But Perth made light work of the chase, with Mooney beginning her captaincy tenure making a brilliant 58 not out from 40 balls to help them to victory with 39 deliveries remaining.
The superstar wicketkeeper-batter’s 48th WBBL half-century came as part of a 124-run second-wicket stand with fellow stalwart Sophie Devine (47 not out from 32 balls), who smashed Australia leg-spinner Wareham for back-to-back sixes to secure the win in some style.
All-rounder Fatima Sana, who finished with figures of 2-27 from four overs in her first game in Scorchers colours, said she was stoked to be able to count Mooney among her teammates.
“She’s a world class player, we all know that,” Sana said.
“Definitely, if she is at the crease, we have a good chance to win.
“In the first match, we wanted to set the tone for the whole tournament. We’ve got this win, so that is a good boost for the team.”
The result has given Perth plenty of early momentum ahead of a quick turnaround which will have them coming up against Melbourne Stars — who beat last season’s champions Hobart Hurricanes in their season opener — at Junction Oval on Monday.
Chloe Ainsworth (2-22) got the Scorchers away in fine style by accounting for West Indies star Hayley Matthews (seven) and her fellow opener Courtney Webb (six) in a typically-threatening opening spell.
And her two early breakthroughs were intersected by Sana claiming her first wicket for the club, who had Australia captain Sophie Molineux caught at mid-off for one.
Leg-spinner Alana King (1-35) instantly backed up the good work of the seamers after being introduced into the attack, pinning Tess Flintoff (two) lbw with her first ball to leave the visitors in all sorts of trouble.
Having been uncharacteristically sedate as Faltum led the way in the Renegades’ rebuild mission, Wareham hit the first ball of the power surge to long-on, only to be given a life when replays showed Sana had marginally overstepped.
The star all-rounder took full advantage by smashing 43 from her next 18 balls before being caught on the boundary by Sana, who also ended Faltum’s fine knock by bowling the wicketkeeper in the final over.
Sana said her side had remained positive at the innings break, despite having surrendered their momentum.
“In the power play, we got three wickets. I think that was a good thing,” she said.
“We were very confident. It doesn’t matter how many runs we gave, (we knew) we could achieve the target as well.”
Despite the early loss of Katie Mack for a scratchy nine, the Scorchers got away quickly in the chase — in large part thanks to the sloppy Renegades surrendering 16 sundries in the first five overs, including one leg bye which became five overthrows thanks to no fielder backing up a shy at the stumps from Deandra Dottin.
Both free hits the visitors surrendered for bowling no-balls before the mid-innings drinks break were both smashed to the boundary by Mooney, who had no issue in keeping the scoreboard ticking over alongside Devine.
The New Zealander showed both power and touch throughout her own fine innings, which was highlighted by slog-sweeping the normally-miserly Molineux for a huge six over mid-wicket.
Perth opted to utilise the power surge as soon as it became available and taking 24 runs from its two overs erased any small semblance of doubt over which way the result was heading.
