Former Star Tess Flintoff hit the winning runs against her old side as the Melbourne Renegades proved too good for their cross-town rivals
Tess Flintoff's clutch, late hitting cut the tension as the Renegades toppled the Stars in the Weber WBBL's Melbourne derby.
Chasing 142 for victory at CitiPower Centre, the allrounder (17 off nine) held her nerve with a six, four and four off Annabel Sutherland's penultimate over to clinch the win with four wickets and seven balls to spare.
The Stars had given themselves every chance with some tight bowling after Courtney Webb (37) and Sophie Molineux (32) had put defending champions the Renegades on track.
Needing a-run-a-ball in the final four overs, both Deandra Dottin and Georgia Wareham holed out to heap the pressure on the lower order.
But, needing 12 off 10 balls, Flintoff was up to the task against her former club. First she split two leg-side fielders with a swipe that hit the rope before hammering a back-foot drive over cover to level the scores.
Victory came courtesy of a sweetly timed drive over mid-off to put the Renegades (3-1) into second behind the unbeaten Hobart (3-0).
Earlier, Meg Lanning (three) recorded a rare failure, leaving Sutherland (29) and Marizanne Kapp (22) to pilot the Stars' innings before Kim Garth's (29 off 19) late hitting.
Dottin (3-20 off three overs) took the last three wickets.
Weber WBBL|11 Standings
| Team | M | W | L | T | N/R | NRR | Ded. | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.036 | 0 | 6 |
2 |
4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.23 | 0 | 6 |
3 |
3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.981 | 0 | 4 |
4 |
4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | -0.745 | 0 | 4 |
5 |
3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.323 | 0 | 3 |
6 |
3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.092 | 0 | 3 |
7 |
3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | -0.787 | 0 | 0 |
8 |
3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | -1.115 | 0 | 0 |
M:Matches played
W:Wins
L:Losses
T:Ties
N/R:No results
NRR:Net Run Rate
Ded.:Deductions
PTS:Total points