Brisbane Heat move to second after last-ball DLS thriller
Allrounder Amelia Kerr starred with bat and ball in a game that came down to the wire
AAP
14-Nov-2022
Grace Harris celebrates the matchwinning catch • Getty Images
Brisbane Heat 6 for 114 (A Kerr 32, Schutt 3-38) beat Adelaide Strikers 115 (Wolvaardt 45, A Kerr 3-26) by two runs (DLS method)
The race for top spot on the WBBL ladder is set to go down to the wire after the Brisbane Heat beat the Adelaide Strikers by two runs in a final-ball thriller.
In reply to Heat's 6 for 114 off 16 overs in a rain-affected match in Adelaide on Monday, Strikers were in all sorts of trouble at 8 for 69 in the 12th over requiring 118 for victory under the DLS method.
Needing 49 runs from 26 balls, Laura Wolvaardt (45 off 38 balls) and Megan Schutt (18no off 12 balls) got the Strikers back into the match.
They needed 10 runs off the final over - to be bowled by spinner Amelia Kerr - with just one wicket in hand. The equation was whittled down to three runs needed off the final ball, with No. 11 Darcie Brown facing up.
Brown, who had never scored a run in a WBBL match, charged Kerr and launched the spinner down the ground with a hefty stroke. But she was caught four metres inside the rope by Grace Harris to spark wild celebrations.
The result lifted Heat to within one point of the ladder-leading Sydney Sixers, who have played one game less than the Heat. Third-placed Hurricanes are four points adrift of the Sixers but have one game in hand on the Sixers and two games in hand on the Heat.
Strikers remain in fifth spot, with just two matches remaining in their campaign.