WBBL04 - Semi-finals await

The four teams who will be fighting it out on Saturday for a place in the WBBL04 final will be...

Sixers, Thunder, Heat and Renegades

The Scorchers lost the first of their two games at the weekend to Strikers, and with Renegades beating Hurricanes (albeit only just), it meant it was Renegades that joined the other three in the semi-finals. Scorchers did beat Strikers the following day, but it was too little too late. Here is how the final table looked.

Final WBBL04 Ladder positions

This means that the semi-finals this Saturday will be

Thunder v Heat

followed by 

Sixers v Renegades

Sixers and Thunder are both hot favourites to make it through to the final, but Heat beat Thunder in their last match of the season, chasing down Thunder's 171/7 in the final over, thanks to a maiden WBBL04 century for Beth Mooney (102). It was the sixth century of WBBL04. There had only been five in the previous three years of the tournament. If Mooney could put on a repeat performance in the semi-final Heat could just upset the Sydney franchise.

Sixers too lost their last game, being bowled out by Stars for just 92. Ellyse Perry has, of course, been in sparkling form with the bat for Sixers, but it has meant that their middle order and below have had precious little time at the crease. If the Renegades were to winkle out Perry, Healy and Gardner cheaply then they could repeat Stars' performance with the ball. Their bowlers are good enough to do it, but whether they could then hold their nerve with the bat is a slightly different matter.

Martin Davies
14/I/19