The Lend Lease Breakers have celebrated their 150th match in the Women’s National Cricket League with a double bonus point victory over South Australia by 167 runs at Manly Oval (October 29).
Winning the toss and electing to bat, the Lend Lease Breakers piled on 4-300 from their 50 overs with four players posting half-centuries: Rachael Haynes (50), Leah Poulton (78), Alex Blackwell (68 not out) and Alyssa Healy (51).
Poulton and Haynes laid the perfect platform for the innings with a 107 run opening stand in 19.1 overs, while Blackwell and Healy powered the team towards 300 with their 90 run, fourth wicket stand coming from just 69 deliveries.
Lisa Sthalekar also made 22 from 24 balls, taking her past 3000 career runs in the WNCL. She becomes just the third NSW player to reach this mark after Belinda Clark and Lisa Keightley.
South Australia made a brisk start to their chase, laying on 34 runs in six overs before Sarah Coyte made the initial breakthrough by having Shelley Nitschke caught behind by Alyssa Healy for 17. Lisa Sthalekar then claimed 3-8 from six overs, including the key wickets of top order batters Julie Woerner, Lucy Doolan and Lauren Ebsary, to put a major dent in South Australia’s effort.
Two wickets to leg-spinner, Angela Reakes, and a couple of run outs, effectively ended South Australia’s chase and they eventually succumbed for 133 in the 35th over when Sthalekar claimed her fourth wicket for the innings. She finished with 4-12 from 6.4 overs, and the Player of the Match award.
Lend Lease Breakers Head Coach, Neil McDonald, said the batters were the key to the team’s success today.
“We thought 250 was achievable on this wicket and it was fantastic to go on to post 300 with good contributions and partnerships from the top order. We then fought really hard in the field to claim the two bonus points which will be crucial in a competition that only lasts six rounds,” he said.
“We’ve played five games in total so far this season in both the 50 over and T20 formats and I am delighted that our top order batting has fired in all of them. Our bowlers have adapted well to the different conditions and we’ve been really disciplined in the field,” he added.
The Lend Lease Breakers and South Australia will play a second WT20 match at Manly Oval tomorrow (October 30) starting at 10am. The Lend Lease Breakers won the first WT20 match on Friday (October 28) by six wickets.
