By Roy Ward, Jon Pierik and Carla Jaeger
WBBL players are clearly worthy of big stadiums like the MCG, but fans are still to be convinced, judging from a rain-affected opening attempt on Saturday night.
A crowd of 5933 turned out to watch the Melbourne Stars and Melbourne Renegades play the last game of their season, and it ended early when rain hit the venue in the second innings with the Stars declared the winner by eight runs via the Duckworth Lewis rule.
Annabel Sutherland leads out the Melbourne Stars on Saturday night.Credit: Getty Images
The WBBL billed this final round as the Stadium Series, aiming to draw in big crowds before the finals. But on this night, plenty went against the best-laid plans, with the Stars and Renegades already out of finals contention and having had poor seasons, and rain was forecast.
Veteran Stars’ player Jess Duffin, who announced her retirement before play after a 24-year sporting career, said she hoped the WBBL could play more games in stadiums as opposed to smaller grounds.
“The more games you can play in a stadium the better,” Duffin said.
“I don’t think anyone expected the numbers we got tonight and at Adelaide Oval on Friday night. Now we will see how many they get at the SCG on Sunday.
Annabel Sutherland plays a shot.Credit: Getty Images
“People are turning up whether we are top of the ladder or bottom, so we definitely need more stadium games.”
Renegades captain Hayley Matthews, Renegades import Harmanpreet Kaur and Stars captain Annabel Sutherland showed their talents despite the tough conditions.
The Stars were bowled out for 118 in their 20 overs with Sutherland top-scoring with 36 from 28 balls, and then took two early wickets via player-of-the-match Kim Garth (2-2).
Garth said it was a joy to play on the MCG for all her teammates who finished the season strongly with four wins from their last five games but missed the finals.
“For a lot of us, including myself, it was our first time on here, and it was really cool,” Garth said.
“We were making the most of it, kicking the footy around on the oval before the game and to win the derby on the MCG was cool.”
Rain forced the teams to briefly leave the field four overs into the innings, but they were able to return for 1.3 overs before the rain set in again.
Sutherland’s shot-making and hitting were classy while Renegade Matthews (17 off 10 balls) cracked three late boundaries to get her side within seven runs of the par score before rain ended play.
The WBBL regular season concludes on Sunday.
‘I didn’t want to let my teammates down’: Duffin retires after epic career
Duffin announced just before play that she would be retiring after 24 years at the top.
The 34-year-old Renegades veteran returned to the field this season after having her second child, Archie, in May, and she told family last week that this would be her final game.
She played 117 games for Australia across all formats and played in four winning World Cups, two in one-day internationals and two in Twenty20.
Retiring Renegades star Jess Duffin (right) and Sarah Coyte lead the team out onto the MCG.Credit: Getty Images
She also played 42 AFLW games, retiring as a Hawthorn player last year.
“It’s my last game - it’s a fitting way to finish against the stars and at a big stadium like the MCG,” Duffin told Fox Cricket. “After the last game, [I realised] the body just isn’t the same any more and having two children is part of that. I don’t want to let my teammates down and decided enough was enough.”
Duffin took a very assured catch to dismiss Alice Capsey and hopes to move into coaching in some form, as well as spending more time with her children.
‘It was not a good day’: Kaur returns to the ’G as CA gambles on stadiums
Jon Pierik and Carla Jaeger
Melbourne Renegades star Harmanpreet Kaur has backed Cricket Australia’s decision to have standalone Women’s Big Bash League matches at major stadiums this weekend, declaring there should be more in future seasons.
Margot Harley, the WBBL’s head strategist, insists having two matches on Friday at Adelaide Oval, a derby between the Renegades and Stars at the MCG on Saturday night, and two matches at the SCG on Sunday will fire the competition into a “new trajectory”.
Kaur, the Indian skipper and batting genius, regularly played before crowds of between 9000 and 13,000 in the inaugural Women’s Premier League in India in March, with all matches held in Mumbai, although about 25,000 were on hand for the final when Kaur’s Mumbai Indians defeated Meg Lanning’s Delhi Capitals.
Having fine-tuned preparations ahead of facing the Stars, Kaur said on Friday that she hoped for more matches at major venues.
Indian great Harmanpreet Kaur outside the MCG, where the Melbourne Renegades will play the Melbourne Stars.Credit: Wayne Taylor
“It is important for the game of cricket to grow,” she said.
“The bigger venues – you can accommodate people. Since it’s a weekend, we hope a lot of people come and support the game.”
Kaur said she also hoped the Renegades would continue to attract strong Indian support.
“We have got a lot of support from Indians in the previous games. We are hoping for a larger crowd at the MCG,” she said.
CA refused to disclose attendance expectations, adamant that crowd figures were only one measurement of success for the sport.
Kaur knows all about playing before a big crowd at the MCG, having led India in their losing Twenty20 World Cup final to Australia in 2020 before 86,174 fans – an Australian record for a women’s sporting event. This will be her first time back at the venue.
“It was not a good day,” Kaur said when reflecting on that famous day just before the pandemic struck.
The big sell for Saturday’s game has been impacted by both sides sitting at the bottom of the WBBL ladder and being out of finals contention, not to mention the absence of Stars captain Lanning, who has taken a personal break.
However, Harley said the stadium series would help attract a new audience.
“The role of venues in sport is really important, and the stadium games provide us with an opportunity to reach new audiences, they sit alongside our local venues. But these three venues in particular give us an opportunity to target and expose the WBBL to individuals that may not have ever come and seen a match before,” she said.
“These three venues are really synonymous with world-class cricket, and we know we have a world-class league in the WBBL, and we’re really looking forward to making history this weekend in more ways than one.”
Harley said CA’s new strategy is to target families and multicultural communities who follow international players across the women’s and men’s league.
“They’re passionate cricket supporters, and we want them to be part of the WBBL community,” she said.
Kaur has enjoyed a solid campaign, with a team-high 320 runs at 29 (strike rate 106), and has kept her emotions in check.
The usually unflappable veteran was suspended for two matches after a heated series against Bangladesh in Dhaka in July, having smashed her stumps in displeasure after being adjudged caught at slip. She later called the umpiring “pathetic”.
Kaur has maintained she has no regrets over the incident.
“We do reflect on it, but it was in the moment … it is gone,” Kaur said.
The Stars won by four runs when the teams met at the CitiPower Centre a fortnight ago. In spinner Sophie Day and rising Australian all-rounder Annabel Sutherland, the latter replacing Lanning as captain, the Stars had the competition’s two leading wicket-takers heading into this round.
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