Victoria crush rivals to gain first T20 trophy

Victoria 5 for 127 (Villani 29) beat New South Wales 75 (Andrews 15, Hunter 2-7) by 52 runs
Scorecard

Victoria gained the early advantage in their age-old rivalry with New South Wales after breezing to the inaugural women's domestic Twenty20 title in Adelaide. After winning the toss, Victoria finished with 5 for 127 before dismissing their opponents for 75 in 16 overs for a comprehensive success.

New South Wales' reply started terribly when they were 4 for 8 - Alex Blackwell, Sarah Aley and Alyssa Healy all failed to score - and they couldn't stop the fall of wickets. Julie Hunter and Clea Smith, the opening bowlers, collected two victims each while Briana Binch grabbed the key wickets of Lisa Sthalekar (9) and Kate Blackwell (7) to eliminate any chance of a recovery.

The opener Elyse Villani gave Victoria a strong start with 29 off 27 balls while Jess Cameron's 27 and Kelly Applebee's 21 off 15 kept the rate up. Next Saturday the teams have a re-match of sorts as they contest the 50-over-a-side Women's National Cricket League final at the MCG, where Victoria will look to end New South Wales' streak of four consecutive titles.

"Today was very disappointing," the captain Sthalekar said. "We were out-played by the Victorians, but we have to move on. The WNCL Final is seven days away and now that becomes our focus."