Ruth Johnston performed with both bat and ball in Hobart's loss. (Photo: Cricket Australia)
The Hobart Hurricanes were in all sorts of trouble inside the powerplay, destined for a very low total against the Perth Scorchers. However, Ruth Johnston made sure the final target would be comfortable in the end with a hard-hitting batting display.
Playing as an opening batter for most of the tournament alongside captain Rachel Priest, for the past two games, Johnston has been sent down the order, listed at number seven. However, today it would’ve felt like regular proceedings considering how quickly her services were called upon.
The Hurricanes had a tumultuous start to their innings with the bat as wickets tumbled within the opening overs of the contest, falling to 5/13 after Molly Strano was caught behind, meaning Johnston was walking to the middle inside the sixth over.
Priest (one off eight) and Naomi Stalenberg (zero off one) both fell within three balls from Perth’s Marizanne Kapp and two overs later, Nicola Carey (five off eight) also was sent packing after Kapp again proved her destructiveness.
From the point of Carey’s wicket came more batters to fall in the following consecutive overs – Richa Gosch (zero off four), Strano (three off two), and Mignon du Preez (four off 11).
Feeling like she needed to play a role that ensured she could be at the crease for a long period of time, the 18-year-old Johnston formed a partnership with Sasha Moloney for the seventh wicket, combining for a 54-run stand.
From the third ball she faced, the youngster slashed at a ball that pitched outside, splitting the infield gap at point and finding the ball roll to the boundary at deep point. The pull shot was the method that Johnston used to score the bulk of her runs, using the leg-side to great effect and ticking her score along.
Overall, Johnston hit three fours and two sixes across to encounter to finish with 38 runs off 40 balls, her downfall was being caught by Alana King at deep cover when she skied a Lilly Mills ball towards that area, looking to keep hitting big.
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Despite the low total of 97 runs set for the Scorchers to chase, the Hurricanes attempted to make the response as difficult as possible, claiming the wickets of opening duo Sophie Devine and Beth Mooney cheaply. Tayla Vlaeminck was destructive with the ball, ripping through the two openers, bowling both of them, having Mooney chop-on, and going straight through Devine.
Vlaeminck collected three wickets for the game, trapping Chamari Athapaththu LBW later in the chase with Strano getting Chloe Piparo caught and bowled and Heather Graham being run out by Moloney. Johnston came on to bowl but was the bowler at the conclusion of the game, finishing with figures of 0/18 off 2.3 overs.
Speaking post-game to The Inner Sanctum, Johnston reiterated the need for a partnership to be formed after a tough start, citing that the way she had to play was reflective of building an innings and progressing the game as far as possible – with one thought; “Dig in, get runs, definitely don’t get out”.
“We didn’t have any partnerships yet so, really trying to start a partnership, just stop the wickets,” Johnston mentioned in terms of what the process was when it was her time to start an innings.
“[Coming in towards the end of the powerplay] was sort of good in a way cause I knew that the first few balls, I didn’t have to try anything too silly just cause I knew [the ball] was moving away, they were obviously really difficult lengths.
“I just gave a look at the first few and once the powerplay was over there was gaps so that was sort of handy having. Obviously, you don’t want to have five down or however many we had at that point but we try to make the best out of it.”
Reflecting on the Scorchers’ run chase, Johnston believed it was always going to be a struggle to contain their opposition, although gave praise to the squad, and bowlers for taking the game as deep as it went.
“We have an incredible bowling group so you never know what can happen, cricket’s a funny game so we knew we had to take wickets, we did that at the beginning,” she said.
“I guess we didn’t get them all the way through and they were able to get away with a few runs but definitely a credit to our bowlers with how long they kept it going for. It was tough but we tried.”
Looking ahead to the next series of matches, Hobart travels to Mackay for its final three matches of the WBBL|07 season. Sitting sixth on the standings currently, Johnston revealed the ways in which the club can continue to push for their first finals series since WBBL|02.
“Play our best cricket, we just have to get those runs cause obviously we haven’t really been free-flowing with that, we’ve struggled a little bit. We’ve just got to try and get those runs on the board, do what we’ve been doing with the ball and we should be good”, Johnston outlined.
The Hobart Hurricanes travel from Perth to Mackay but have just under a week until their next game against the Adelaide Strikers at Great Barrier Reef Arena from 2:40pm local time.
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