Melbourne Renegades managed to fend off Brisbane Heat to claim their maiden WBBL title in a rain-affected clash at the MCG.
The hosts stumbled to 9-141 after being sent out to bat, but their defense of the under-fire target started strongly, reducing Brisbane to 5-12 after three overs as the rain began to fall.
The covers eventually came and the lost half hour was enough to see the target reduced to 98 in 12 overs.
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Three wickets in the four overs after the restart put the Renegades in pole position, but then Heat captain Jess Jonassen fired to keep his side with a try for victory.
Enter Sophie Molineux for last.
The veteran international and Melbourne captain held Jonassen to a single off his first ball and four more completed Melbourne’s remarkable turnaround from last in 2023. to champions this year.
West Indies star Hayley Mathews produced the best all-round performance with bat and ball to be named man of the match.
Matthews opened with a restrained 69 off 61 balls to set a new highest individual score in a WBBL final, breaking Beth Mooney’s record of 65 from 2019.
Matthews then took the wickets of Charlie Knott and Laura Harris in successive balls to end her first over, making it extremely difficult for the Heat to reach their target as they slumped to 5-37.
The Renegades have never before reached a final in the 10-year history of the WBBL.
Georgia Wareham said it was “pretty special” to finally get over the line – especially after winning the week off before the championship decider.
“We’ve been through some ups and downs, but the performance we put in today and all year long was amazing,” she said.
“We didn’t really know what to do with ourselves (in the weekends before the final). But training towards the back end provided momentum.
“I just made sure we were really fresh, it went well today.”
Having decided to play the decider at the MCG instead of the Junction Oval in St Kilda, a crowd of 5,844 turned up on Sunday as a result of a bye for Cricket Australia.
– with AAP
