Villani crunches superb hundred, King reigns supreme as Sixers finish bottom
Perth Scorchers will host the WBBL final at Optus Stadium next Saturday
ESPNcricinfo staff
21-Nov-2021
Elyse Villani signed off in style with a century • Getty Images
Melbourne Stars 1 for 181 (Villani 100*, Lanning 52) beat Adelaide Strikers 3 for 175 (Mack 89*, Penna 56*) by nine wickets
A brilliant century from Elyse Villani, brought up with the match-winning six, enable Melbourne Stars to finish their season on a high note with an impressive run-chase against finals-bound Adelaide Strikers.
Villani and Meg Lanning, with her second fifty of a relatively lean season, added 119 for the first wicket but Stars still needed more than 12 an over in the closing stages. However, Villani and Annabel Sutherland regularly found the boundary in a stand of 62 off 29 balls. Villani reached 94 with the boundary that leveled the scores then just managed to clear the long-off rope to bring up her maiden WBBL hundred.
Katie Mack, who has enjoyed a stunning run of form in the latter half of the tournament, and Madeline Penna were the other batting stars of a high-scoring encounter. They added an unbroken 118 in 12 overs for the fourth wicket after Strikes had slipped to 3 for 57 following two wickets in four balls for Sutherland. They scored 77 from the final six overs with Penna reaching a 31-ball fifty with a six.
During the run chase Jemma Barsby showed off her ambidextrous skills by switching between right-arm offspin and left-arm finger spin when bowling to Villani and Lanning.
Perth Scorchers 2 for 131 (Piparo 50*) beat Sydney Sixers 4 for 128 (Perry 39*, King 3-18) by eight wickets
Sydney Sixers took the wooden spoon for the first in the WBBL as Perth Scorchers rubberstamped their place in the grand final, which will be hosted at Optus Stadium on November 27, with a convincing victory.
In a good sign for their title dip next week, Scorchers' middle-order again got the job done in the run chase as Chloe Piparo, with her maiden WBBL fifty off 39 balls, and Heather Graham added 74 for the third wicket.
Legspinner Alana King had been the star with the ball, knocking back a promising start from Sixers by removing Alyssa Healy and Shafali Verma with her first three deliveries. She then returned in the 15th over to claim Nicole Bolton and after two overs had 3 for 5. Angela Reakes gave the innings a bit of a late kick but the total never threatened to be enough.