Adelaide Strikers roll Melbourne Stars for 29 in record WBBL rout
The defending champions began in emphatic style after the foundations had been laid by a strong opening stand
AAP
21-Oct-2023
Amanda-Jade Wellington finished with figures for 2-0-4-3 • Getty Images
Adelaide Strikers 177 for 3 (Mack 86, Wolvaardt 47, Day 3-24) beat Melbourne Stars 29 (Schutt 3-3, Wellington 3-4) by 148 runs
Adelaide Strikes made a sensational record-breaking start to their WBBL title defence, dismissing the Melbourne Stars for just 29 on their way to a crushing 148-run win at Karen Rolton Oval.
Put in to bat, Strikers smashed their way to 177 for, with openers Katie Mack and Laura Woolvardt blasting 135 off 14.1 overs.
Stars, who won their opening game on Thursday, were dismissed in just 9.3 overs to comfortable set a new record for the lowest total in the competition.
No Stars batter made double figures with Sophia Dunkley top-scoring with 9.
Megan Schutt, Amanda-Jade Wellington and Zimbabwe legspinner Anesu Mushangwe ripped through the batting line-up to leave the visitors reeling at 18 for 8 in the seventh over.
10 wickets in 10 overs or less.
— Weber Women's Big Bash League (@WBBL) October 21, 2023
Insane efforts with the ball by the @strikersBBL #WBBL09 pic.twitter.com/WLclAHcYVL
Captain Tahlia McGrath picked up the last two wickets to complete the embarrassingly one-sided game.
The previous biggest winning margin was Sydney Sixers' 103-run victory over the Hobart Hurricanes.
"We started unreal with the bat with Katie and Laura and then with the ball as well with Mushy [Mushangwe] and Shooter [Schutt], so very happy," McGrath told Fox Sports.
"A perfect start but it's a long tournament it's a really tough tournament, so we're going to have to be at our best for the next six weeks."
Strikers' openers feasted on some poor bowling, notching at least one boundary in each of the first nine overs.
Mack took 11 off the first Kim Garth over, slashing a couple of boundaries backward of point and scored 49 of her team's first 55 runs. She struck 10 fours in her first 50, consistently smashing back of a length deliveries to the legside boundary.
Left-arm finger spinner Sophie Day temporarily dragged her team back into the match. She had Woolvardt caught at long on and three balls later Mack was stumped by Nicole Faltum.
Day also had Bridget Patterson caught, but McGrath produced some powerful hitting in the closing overs.
Stars' reply was catastrophic with the visitors playing a series of loose shots and providing Strikers with catching practice.
Captain Meg Lanning fell to Schutt in the second over for 1, and Mushangwe removed England stars Dunkley and Alice Capsey in the third and the innings never recovered.