WBBL - Halfway through

We have reached the halfway point in WBBL11. Is it me or has it been rather disappointing and very low key? Cricinfo's coverage of the games, via AAP, suggest they don't really care very much about the tournament. Their match reports almost certainly have some AI generated content in them and are frequently inaccurate. 

The latest results were:-
Strikers 134/7 lost to Hurricanes 136/6  by 4 wickets with 2 balls remaining.
Scorchers  150/7 lost to Thunder 154/1 by 9 wickets with 10 balls remaining.
Renegades 155ao lost to Hurricanes 106/4 (13 over target 106) by 6 wickets with 6 balls remaining.
Stars 219/4 beat Sixers 42ao (10 over target 153) by 111 runs.
Thunder 200/6 beat Heat 159ao by 41 runs.
Sixers 147/9 beat Hurricanes 136ao by 11 runs

Points of Interest:-

• Hurricanes have lost their first game, contriving to go from 129/6 to 136 all out in 10 balls to lose by 11 runs to the Sixers. They remain top of the league on 10 points, ahead of the chasing pack, who all seem incapable of actually chasing anything.
• The chasing pack includes Renegades, Sixers, Stars, Thunder, Scorchers, and Strikers, who are all separated by just 3 points (6 down to 3) - they are all the model of inconsistency!
• Brisbane Heat have now lost all 4 of the games they have played
• Thunder won both their games this week, which some suggest is the start of a resurgence. One of those was against the Heat (without Grace Harris or Jemimah Rodrigues). I still wouldn't back them to make the play-offs
• Brisbane Heat keep trying different opening partnerships - the latest one included shipping in Lauren Winfield-Hill. They still lost. Give Annie O'Neil a go!!
• Meg Lanning, not retained in the WPL, now has the most runs in the competition (no she doesn't - DWH has one more after this morning's game!), having helped herself to 135 of them against the Sixers this week
• It continues to rain in Australia and the girls continue to play through it until their clothing gets so heavy they can't carry on!

This weekend's games are:-
Scorchers v Strikers - Neither team look in a very good place and look likely to miss out on the play-offs along with the Heat. Expect this to be a scrappy affair.
Thunder v Renegades - Renegades have a 3/2 record and are likely to burst the Thunder's newly inflated resurgence balloon.
Heat v Stars - After pummelling the Sixers with the bat and the ball it is difficult to see the Stars slipping up against winless Heat.

Martin Davies
22/XI/2025