Adelaide Strikers opener Sophie Devine belts five consecutive sixes and sets records books alight at Karen Rolton Oval
Adelaide Strikers’ star allrounder Sophie Devine whacked herself into the WBBL record books after belting five consecutive sixes in an extraordinary batting display against Melbourne Stars.
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One half of Adelaide Strikers “Smash Sisters” - big-hitting opener Sophie Devine - belted an extraordinary innings that not only lived up to her moniker, but needed to be seen to be believed.
Devine smashed an incredible five consecutive sixes from the final five balls of Adelaide’s innings to set a record for the highest number of runs hit in a single WBBL over, leading her side to a 17-run win over Melbourne Stars on Sunday.
The swinging bat of Devine – and a single to middle-order batter Katie Mack – notched up an eye-watering 31 runs from the final over to push the Strikers to 4/164 in their T20 game against the Stars at Karen Rolton Oval in front of a record crowd for a WBBL game in Adelaide.
To put into perspective just how incredible this final over was, Devine had chalked up her half-century in the 19th over and amazingly, by the end of the 20th, she was only 15 runs shy of her century.
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Her unbeaten 85 from 56 balls was built with six shots that hit the rope and a further five that cleared it.
After the game, Devine said she had approached the final balls of the innings with the mentality of: “I can swing here and hope that it comes off”.
“I said to Katie (Mack): ‘I’m just going to go here’ and to be fair, I was trying the overs before but it just wasn’t coming off,” she said.
Devine said she was honoured to have broken the record for most runs in a single over.
“The great thing about this competition is records are being broken all the time,” she said.
“We saw Alyssa Healy and Ellyse Perry break the partnership record just last week and that’s what’s so great about this comp and women’s cricket at the moment ... ceilings are being smashed through.”
Melbourne Stars captain Elyse Villani admitted after the innings that it was an error to bowl the spin of Penna in the final over, but those learning will now be taken to the Barossa Valley where the Strikers and Stars play each other again on Saturday at Centennial Park Oval, Nuriootpa, from 1.30pm.
MISSED CHANCES COST STARS
T20 cricket is all about moments and two of the biggest ones occurred in the second and third overs when Devine was twice dropped by Mignon du Preez: firstly when she was on one, and then the following over when she was on four.
This second time, Devine was so sure she was out, she turned her head as soon as she’d struck it and then started walking off the pitch.
But the ball tumbled from du Preez’s hands and Devine’s opening partner Suzie Bates called her back.
85* from 56 and 2/19 😱
— AdelaideStrikersWBBL (@StrikersWBBL) November 10, 2019
Even more reason to don the zinc for your Player of the Match, super @sophdevine77 🌟 #zincchallenge #BlueEnergy #WBBL05 pic.twitter.com/RXc7dSiDC2
To then go on and set the record books alight the way she did was momentum changing considering the Strikers’ total of 4/133 would have been difficult to defend on a “road” like ‘K-Rol’.
In the end, 164 was eminently defendable.
But momentum is a funny thing and in reply the Stars wrestled it back thanks to opener Lizelle Lee and du Preez (who came in after Stars captain Villani was out for one in the second over, caught off Devine’s bowling).
Lee and du Preez piled on the runs and both reached their quick-fire half-centuries to tick the runs over, with Strikers bowlers being pummeled across the oval.
A wicket was desperately needed, and it took Mack – playing her old side – to have Lee (52 from 41 balls) caught on the boundary.
And when Amanda-Jade Wellington caught-and-bowled Erin Osborne for a duck the next over, and then Bates had Katey Martin trapped LBW for seven in the following over, the Strikers had taken three wickets in three overs and momentum had swung back their way.
With the Stars needing 31 runs - the day’s magic number - from 15 balls, Wellington had du Preez stumped after a spectacular innings of 70 from 51 and then found herself on a hat-trick when new batter Madeline Penna was also stumped by keeper Tegan McPharlin.
But the day was Devine’s and she walked away with well-earned Player of the Match accolades after following up her performance with the bat with 2/19 from her four overs, and putting the Strikers back on top of the WBBL05 ladder.