Ellyse Perry survived being dismissed twice en route to her WBBL career-best score that helped the Sydney Sixers beat the Adelaide Strikers and reach the WBBL knockouts.
Perry rides on fortune to propel Sixers into WBBL finals
Perry and Sophia Dunkley (54 in 40 balls) added 36 in the four-over first powerplay after Adelaide Strikers captain Tahlia McGrath won the toss and opted to field at the North Sydney Oval. They eventually put on 141 in 16 overs for the opening stand.
Perry had already survived a chance by then. She tried to clear cover when she was on 65, but Eleanor Larosa leapt in the air to take a one-handed blinder, only for the TV umpire to inform that McGrath had overstepped. So impressed was Perry that she applauded Larosa, who gave a thumbs-up in acknowledgment.
Later, when she was on 91, she chopped a ball from Amanda-Jade Wellington on to the stumps, but the bails did not dislodge. She eventually holed out to deep extra cover off Larosa, who picked up all four Sixers wickets to finish with 4-0-20-4 in a total of 173-4.
By then, she had made 111, her third hundred and career-best score in T20 cricket. En route, she became the second to the 5,000-run mark in the WBBL, after Beth Mooney (5,446). In all T20 cricket, Perry’s 9,295 are the fourth-most.
Bridget Patterson (65 not out in 35 balls) then took the fight to the Sixers camp, bringing them to within 18 runs of a win when the last over began. When Ash Gardner bowled, Patterson hit her for four, four, six to bring the target down to four in three balls before running a leg-bye.
Gardner then bowled Wellington, who made room and tried to hit inside out through the off side but missed the line. Sophie Ecclestone drove the last ball to long-on, who threw the ball to Gardner as the batters ran for the winning runs. Gardner collected the ball, and her throw beat Ecclestone at the striker’s end as Alyssa Healy broke the stumps.
The result knocked the Strikers out and catapulted the Sixers to the Challenger, where they will face the winner of the Knockout (Melbourne Stars versus Perth Scorchers).
