WBBL | Mack's lone-warrior 79 not enough as Thunder register maiden season win with Scorchers thumping

Asked to bat first, Katie Mack got Perth Scorchers on the front foot early after two quiet overs with a hat-trick of fours against Georgia Voll, spread from point to square leg. However, Beth Mooney sturggled to get going at the other end, culminating in a moderate powerplay score of 26/0. The duo kept going along the same veins even after the field spread and Mack soon after brought up a 36-ball half-century. Sydney Thunder finally broke through at the halfway mark as Chamari Athapaththu ended Mooney's 25-ball struggle for 17 with an arm ball, the score now reading 76/1. Freya Kemp tried to give her team a hurry-up with two quick boundaries but her running could not keep up as she was run-out the very next ball, two balls before Paige Scholfield was pinned LBW by Lauren Finn. Sophie Devine followed two overs later as the Scorchers slid to 100/4 in 14, while Mack haplessly watched on from the other end. Mikayla Hinkley was the one to finally stick around but the boundaries had dried up, prompting the visitors to opt for a Power Surge at the end of the 16th. However, they could only muster 17 off the two overs, and lost Hinkley too to end the 32-run stand. Mack, however, stuck through to the end with 79 off 57, and with a quick seven-ball 11 from Chloe Ainsworth, the Scorchers set Sydney a target of 151.  

In response, Voll got off to a roaring start with five boundaries in the powerplay, taking the Thunder to their season-high four-over score of 36/0. The Aussie opener added two more to her tally off Devine in the sixth over, two balls before Tahlia Wilson opened her account with an authoritative stroke. The pair flew along to 68/0 in just eight overs when Lilly Mills eventually struck thorough by scalping Voll for a 31-ball 43, bringing opposition skipper Phoebe Litchield to the crease. Enduring a poor start to the season, the youngster took her time to bed in with Wilson taking up the responsibility of keeping the required rate in check. Two boundary less overs eventually brought the equation down to 48 in the final six overs, at which point Litchfield broke the shackles with a gorgeous sweep off Alana King, and followed it up with four more two balls later. The Thunder required 29 in 24 when they opted for the Power Surge, intent on getting the game done quickly. Litchfield capitalized with two more boundaries in a 12-run over while Wilson brought up her half-century in 41-balls with a four against Ainsworth. Litchfield sealed the match in stuyle with a six off the second ball of the penultimate over, also bringing up a 35-ball half-century in the process as Thunder finally got on the books after three losses on the trot.