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WBBL round-up: Meg Lanning brilliance overcomes Laura Wolvaardt, Hobart Hurricanes off the mark

The first mid-week of the WBBL fixtures saw four teams in action

Meg Lanning showed all her chasing class  •  Getty Images

Meg Lanning showed all her chasing class  •  Getty Images

Melbourne Stars 3 for 159 (Lanning 69, Villani 43) beat Adelaide Strikers 6 for 154 (Wolvaardt 68)
A powerful performance from the Stars' top order overcame a testing target after a magnificent innings from Laura Wolvaardt. Elyse Villani raced out of the blocks in the Powerplay - in which the Stars were 0 for 50 - before Meg Lanning, who was dropped on 12, took charge with a 36-ball half-century while adding 93 with Mignon du Preez. In a contrast of tactics, the Strikers had made a careful start to their innings and were 54 for 1 at the halfway mark - before making another 100 runs - whereas the Stars were 94 for 1 after the 11th over which Lanning took for 17 against Amanda-Jade Wellington. It was an evening full of impressive strokeplay and though Wolvaardt's came in defeat she provided a lot of the highlights. She reached fifty off 41 balls in an innings studded were trademark drives and her four sixes included a magnificent inside-out drive over extra cover. Though the chase went deep into the final over, with Lanning departing among three dot balls, Nat Sciver sealed victory with a huge six.
Hobart Hurricanes 1 for 82 beat Melbourne Renegades 81 (Carey 3-14) by nine wickets
The Hurricanes earned themselves a first win of the WBBL season with a trouncing of fellow strugglers the Renegades who were skittled for 81 - their second-lowest total in the tournament's history - in a dismal batting display. On a slow Blacktown surface, the ground hosting its first matches of the competition, the Renegades laboured to time the ball from the start when Sophie Molineux was caught at backward point off her first ball. They had struggled to 1 for 30 after eight overs when 15-year-old spinner Amy Smith had Lizelle Lee lbw with her first delivery and in the 11th over Hayley Matthews removed Courtney Webb and Amy Satterthwaite in consecutive deliveries. When Nicola Carey bowled the in-form Georgia Wareham the hopes of a strong finish went with her and the entire innings contained just three boundaries. Rachel Priest struck six herself in an opening stand of 56 that ensured the chase was a formality and they had more than seven overs to spare.