Stars Prevail In WA Scorcher

The Player: English batter Sophia Dunkley made her intentions known, setting the tone early as she found the boundary with the first ball of the match. Dunkley produced an innings defining knock in challenging conditions, with extreme temperature levels clocking in at a high of 37 degrees as she opened her account. Scoring 73 runs from just 48 deliveries, the 25-year-old found the rope on nine occasions, while entertaining the local Perth crowd with a pair of maximums. Dunkley brought up her maiden WBBL half-century as she scored at an incredible rate of 152.08 throughout her innings. 

The Moment: The Golden Arm removes the Golden Bat! BKT Golden Arm leader Sophie Day claimed her 50th career scalp in the WBBL, taking her tally to 27 in WBBL|09. Day removed leading run scorer Beth Mooney in the fifth over thanks to an outfield catch from Alice Capsey, which saw the Scorchers fall to 3-19. Day was on a hat-trick in the 17th over, and ultimately extended her Golden Arm lead to four wickets over Stars teammate Annabel Sutherland, who has 23. Sophie Day also became the first bowler to take four or more wickets four separate times in the one WBBL season.

The Result: An important bat flip to win, stand in skipper Annabel Sutherland was successful, forcing the Scorchers to field in hot and windy conditions at the WACA. 
English duo Sophia Dunkley and Alice Capsey combined to put on an incredible partnership of 101 runs from 66 deliveries for the second wicket, with Capsey, 43 from 34, putting seven boundaries in the scorebook. 

Sitting pretty at 1/94 at the drinks break, late fireworks saw the Stars finish with 6/157, headlined by a maximum over midwicket from Nicole Faltum. 
Strike bowler Kim Garth broke through in the opening over, dismissing the dangerous Sophie Devine as she produced figures of 1-14 from her four over spell. Garth’s outstanding economy rate of just 3.5 was crucial, recording 15 dot balls as the bowling group did their best to keep it tight, restricting the Scorchers to just 2/16 after the powerplay. 

Sophie Day was among the action both with the ball and in the field, claiming four wickets and two catches in Perth, while Sutherland’s captaincy guided the Stars to victory as she finished with figures of 2-19. 

The Scorchers finished at 9/124, as the Stars claimed the points in their final away trip of WBBL|09, with consecutive wins being credited to back-to-back knocks from Dunkley, setting up a platform for the bowlers, who executed  once again in WBBL|09. 

The Stars now have five wins in WBBL|09 and will face off with the Melbourne Renegades in the Melbourne Derby as they play their final match of the season at the MCG on Saturday.