A disciplined bowling performance has seen the Lend Lease Breakers maintain their unbeaten start to the 2011/12 Women’s T20 competition, defeating South Australia by six wickets at Manly Oval today (October 28).
Winning the toss and batting, South Australia made 3-122, thanks to 39 from Julie Woerner and 37 to Lauren Ebsary. All of the Lend Lease Breakers bowlers made life difficult for the opposition batters, however, Lisa Sthalekar (2-26) was the only one to finish with a wicket.
The Lend Lease Breakers never appeared threatened in their run chase, with victory coming in 17.3 overs for the loss of four wickets.
As she had done in Perth one week earlier, Leah Poulton dominated the attack early, hitting 27 runs from 21 balls. Her dismissal with the score on 34 prompted Alyssa Healy to take up the charge, with the wicketkeeper-batter striking 30 runs from 22 deliveries.
Healy’s dismissal, caught at long on, saw Lisa Sthalekar join Alex Blackwell in the middle. Together they put the match beyond doubt, scoring at seven runs an over throughout their 46 run third wicket stand.
Blackwell lost her wicket just short of the target, caught behind for 37, but at this stage the match was beyond doubt, with Rachael Haynes bringing up victory with a boundary through the covers soon after. Sthalekar was not out on 22 while Alyssa Healy was named Player of the Match.
Lend Lease Breakers’ captain, Alex Blackwell, was full of praise for her team’s efforts in the field.
“We wanted to keep them under 130 and we did that with a really disciplined bowling effort. It was great to get a run out early and I thought Sarah Coyte and Ellyse Perry bowled really well on a pitch that didn’t necessarily suit the quicks,” she said.
“Alyssa Healy really drove the fielding effort from behind the stumps. She did a lot of little things really well which often go unnoticed, and she deserved the Player of the Match award.”
This was the Lend Lease Breakers third win of the WT20 competition after two convincing victories over Western Australia last weekend in Perth.
Tomorrow (October 29), they play South Australia at Manly Oval in a Women’s National Cricket League (50 over) match, which will also be NSW’s 150th in this competition. Play starts at 10am and entry is free.
