The day began well for the Hurricanes, with Captain, Corinne Hall, winning the toss and sending the Strikers into bat. For the majority of the first innings the Hurricanes were clinical with the ball, with sharp fielding restricting runs and keeping the run rate at below a run-a-ball.
Amy Smith – who celebrated her 16th birthday in the WBBL Village yesterday – added another internationally-capped player to her bag of scalps from the tournament so far, clean-bowling Tahlia McGrath for 12, and finished with impressive figures of 1-19 off her four overs.
However, when the wicket of Stafanie Taylor fell in the 14th over – bowled thanks to an absolute seed from Nicola Carey – Strikers Maddie Penna (56* off 33) and Tegan McPharlin (18* off 12) combined for an impressive 69-run partnership, giving their side a respectable total to defend, but also a target that the Hurricanes could realistically achieve.
Hayley Matthews joined Rachel Priest to mix up the opening partnership today, but unfortunately there wasn’t much other news to come from the Hurricanes innings with the bat, with the team being all out for 77 runs by the 17th over. Chloe Tryon top-scored for the Hurricanes with 17, but a run out dashed the hopes of her leading her side to a miraculous recovery.
Post-match, Matthews reflected on how the game played out from her perspective.
“I think we started with the ball really well, which was really good to see. I think going into the last five overs we had them really good - I think the score was about 77 – [and] I mean Penna played a really good innings at the end in order to get them to that total, but we sort of just let them get away too much ahead of us.
“I don’t think it was too difficult out there, it was actually a pretty easy wicket out there,” Matthews responded when questions about whether the wicket was a difficult one to bat on. Penna - after all - was the only player from either time to post a significant total with the bat.
“One or two of the bowlers kept it a bit low, but nothing out of the ordinary,” Matthews continued. “It was probably one of those wickets where if you just pace yourself and bat a bit longer, it became a lot easier, and that’s what she did really well to get those runs.”
The Hurricanes will now look towards tomorrow’s clash with the Melbourne Stars, back at Hurstville Oval. The match will be broadcast on ABC Grandstand and live streamed at cricket.com.au and Kayo Sports from 2.30pm AEDT.