Grace Harris and her broken bat thrashes new WBBL record 136 not out

A day after a new low total was set in the WBBL, Grace Harris tore up the record books with the highest individual score in the tournament's history with a brutal 136 not out off 59 balls against Perth Scorchers at North Sydney Oval.

Harris, who was recently left out of Australia's T20I side against West Indies, reached her third WBBL hundred from 48 balls. She also set a new record with 11 sixes, overtaking the previous mark of ten set by Ash Gardner, at the same ground, against Melbourne Stars in 2017.

"I don't know if I could top that," she said. "I always find North Sydney to be a great ground for a batter, the wickets are quite nice and true surfaces. The boundary here, I back myself in to clear it if I give it a good swing. Might have got a bit of inspiration from Hayley Matthews recently...on what she did, she did tear our Aussie bowling attack apart."

One of those sixes came during an extraordinary passage of play where she had called for a new bat, but carried on using the one she wanted replaced then crunched the next ball for six as the handle ripped off from the blade. Having replaced the bat, for good measure she also sent the next delivery from Piepa Cleary over the ropes.

EXTRAORDINARY!

Grace Harris had a broken bat, and this is how it played out:

"Hey guys, I need a new bat!"
"Stuff it, I'll still hit it!"

And then Harris hits it for SIX! #WBBL09 @SportsCenter #SCTop10 pic.twitter.com/ZI9JUnAyyl

— 7Cricket (@7Cricket) October 22, 2023

"Thought it [the handle] just clicked a little bit and didn't want to be given nicked off as the ball went past and I didn't hit the ball," she said. "When I faced up, I thought it's probably hanging on, when they get that looser handle they are at their best, they are pinging. Thought I'd still hit it for six, they'd been going miles today...it went for six, so paid off for me then."

Scorchers had made early inroads when Chloe Ainsworth, who struck twice in her opening over on debut against Hobart Hurricanes, found herself on a hat-trick in the fourth over.

To add to the context of Harris' ferocious display, she had been 9 off eight balls at the end of the four-over powerplay before she took the attack to Australia team-mate Alana King with three sixes in her first two overs.

She and Mignon du Preez added 91 off 47 balls for the third wicket. Harris then dominated a stand of 51 with Bess Heath as she took advantage of the favourable boundaries and some poor Scorchers bowling. Of the 37 runs added with Mikayla Hinkley, Harris contributed 32 off 10 balls.

Heat's eventual total was the second highest in WBBL history.

Scorchers made a brave attempt early in their mammoth chase, led by Beth Mooney's 25-ball fifty, and on the comparison were ahead of Heat at stages.

Heat also lost Nicola Hancock from their attack after consecutive beamers against Sophie Devine, but they were able to regather themselves with Courtney Sippel coming to the fore.

Devine, who came in at No. 3, couldn't quite get going before picking out deep square leg and Sippel made it three wickets in the 10th to all-but end the contest when she claimed a return catch to remove Maddy Darke and had then had Mooney slicing to short third.

To cap the records, the final overall tally of 408 runs in the match was also a new tournament record.