Perth Scorchers' Beth Mooney surpassed 3500 WBBL runs in an abandoned match against the Sydney Thunder at Karen Rolton Oval. (Image: WBBL/Twitter)
Beth Mooney surpassed 3500 career runs in the WBBL, but the Perth Scorchers party was washed out on a cold and wet day in Adelaide.
The humble opener made yet another half-century, but felt herself and Chamari Athapaththu left some runs out there.
“Oh yeah, some good, some bad (shots),” Mooney said of her own performance today.
“You always, two down, you’re probably looking at 200, so we probably missed a trick at the end there. But it was tough conditions, the ball was a bit wet and soapy, so we’ll take it.”
The opener lost her batting partner in the powerplay by a Sammy-Jo Johnson peach. The delivery bowled over Sophie Devine and was the start the Sydney Thunder were after in the powerplay.
Mooney was left to build a partnership with a different Scorchers player for a change.
Chloe Piparo had a solid start but fell for 10, before Athapaththu came to the crease and took control alongside Mooney.
The Sri Lankan international sent the ball around the park for a half-century off just 33 deliveries, on her way to a 70 not-out total which included eight fours and two sixes.
“I mean, when she plays nice and straight and hits the ball hard, she’s one of the best going around,” Mooney said.
“You know, she’s probably gone away from that a little bit in recent games, but it was nice to see her score some runs.”
Athapaththu’s time in orange ends for WBBL|07, as she heads back to Sri Lanka for the World Cup qualifiers.
It’s disappointing, given she seemed to find her rhythm today, however, the Scorchers are confident in the team they have remaining.
“We’re just happy with the list that we’ve got now, and obviously our middle order, probably hasn’t spent a whole lot of time out there in recent games,” Mooney said.
“So, it’ll be really nice in these remaining three games for all of our batters to step up and hopefully grab three more wins.”
At the start of the match, the conditions weren’t too bad, but as the rain set in around the 10 over mark of the first innings, it became more challenging for the Thunder to grip the wet ball.
“The conditions changed so much throughout the game,” Mooney said post-match.
“Early doors when it wasn’t overly wet, it was quite nice and Soph (Sophie Devine) and I spoke about the wicket being a really good batting wicket and then as the game sort of went on and the ball got soapy, it was quite hard to hit off the square.
“It would have been really interesting to see how the game panned out, if we had 20 overs each in these conditions.”
More Cricket News
Mack keen for Mackay venture after another match-winning knock
Perry laments bowling and fielding in ‘timid’ display
Stars struggle, Scorched in Adelaide
The Scorchers got to 2/184 – a strong total considering the conditions, however the steady rain was set to stay and spoil the fun.
After the innings break, Hannah Darlington went out to open with Smriti Mandhana, but her innings didn’t last long as Marizanne Kapp did what she does best.
The early scalp was Kapp’s 100th WBBL wicket.
The South African international moved across to Perth after six seasons at the Sydney Sixers and the Scorchers are benefitting from her role in their bowling unit – particularly in the Powerplay overs.
“No one needs to introduce Marizanne Kapp in the cricket world, do they? She’s been an outstanding cricketer for a long time, no matter what colour shirt she’s worn, and it’s just nice to see her enjoying her cricket,” Mooney said.
“I think I’ve never seen her smile so much either, so it’s been really nice to see her enjoying her time here at the Scorchers and hopefully we can hang onto her for a bit longer.”
The ball was a ripper that went right through the top of leg, Darlington playing and missing at the delivery.
“I mean, she does that (bowl unplayable balls), she’s done it for South Africa, she’s done it for the Sixers and now she’s doing it for us.
“You want people like that in your team, you want match winners and you want people that can take wickets up front because we know that if you get a few wickets in the powerplay you’re on your way to winning the game.
“So, for Marizanne, I think she’s been outstanding for us both on and off the field and while she might have been a little bit disappointed with her form early doors in the tournament, I think she’s peaking at the right time.”
Unfortunately play didn’t last much longer than Darlington. A couple of boundaries from Smriti had the Thunder sitting nicely should a five over lottery get played, but a heavy shower in the third over had the players heading for the rooms.
“I think the rain around meant that we were prepared for it to just be, try and get five overs in and make a game of it,” Mooney said.
“But we were a long way off, even when it was sort of raining when we started, so we were probably on the wrong side of the ledger at the five over mark, too, if it had have got there…
“We’ll just take the point and move on.”
It’s now a chance for the Scorchers to reset and spend some time together in Adelaide ahead of the final stages of the tournament.
The Thunder continue their tour of Australia as they travel to Mackay for the Sydney Derby with the Sixers on Sunday.
The Perth Scorchers will face the Adelaide Strikers in the Faith Thomas Trophy match next Wednesday at 1:25pm AEDT, while the Sydney Thunder head to Mackay to take on the Sydney Sixers on Sunday at 1:40pm AEDT.
Subscribe to our newsletter!
About Author
