The Melbourne Renegades have beaten the Adelaide Strikers by nine wickets with three overs to spare on Monday night.
Winning the toss, the Renegades elected to bowl on a humid evening at Karen Rolton Oval.
In front of an electric crowd, Smriti Mandhana (40) and Katie Mack (19) instantly got to work, taking Illingworth for seven from the first over, and bringing up their 50-run partnership in the fifth. Both batters took favour with the straight boundary, and tactfully used the depth of the crease to find the length they were after.
When Mack was dismissed reverse sweeping, the West Indians duo of Matthews and Dottin worked to tie down the run-rate, with Mandhana and Wolvaardt (27) looking to consolidate.
Mandhana fell attempting to reignite the run-rate, finding the deep fielder off the bowling of Coyte. The experienced duo of Wolvaardt and McGrath found it difficult to break the inner ring early in their partnership, before a big over against Wareham reignited the innings, 17 coming from it.
With the score 2-71 at drinks, the batting duo aimed to target the straight boundary and the airspace over cover. This proved an effective strategy with McGrath and Wolvaardt hitting large shots over the boundary to bring up the 100 for the Adelaide Strikers in the 12th over.
The momentum continued in the Strikers’ favour despite the departure of Wolvaardt and Patterson.
However, the activation of the power surge saw a quick fall of wickets. McGrath (49) struck back-to-back boundaries but was soon dismissed and quickly followed by Penna and Wellington who both found the fielder at mid-off.
A quick cameo by Orla Prendergast (23) saw the Strikers finish on 8-185.
Tight fielding in the inner ring and length bowling restricted the Renegades to 0-28 from the powerplay.
Webb (37) and Matthews (85*) saw an opportunity to chance their arm and managed to keep within the required run-rate. Missed chances prevented the Strikers from increasing the pressure on the Renegades batters, as the openers continued to chip away at the target with hard running and powerful grounded shots, heading to the drinks break at 0/83.
Courtney Webb retired during the first over of the power surge ending an 86-run partnership. A few overs later Capsey (4) skyed a ball to Prendergast who took a good running catch, giving Darcie Brown and the Strikers their only wicket.
Much like their bowling innings, the Renegades were comfortably in control of the game with the two West Indians at the crease. Matthews and Dottin (46*) sent the Striker’s bowlers into the crowd regularly, dealing with both spin and pace.
The power of the two batters was on full display, as the visitors reached the target with the loss of only one wicket.
The Adelaide Strikers will travel to Hobart to face the Hurricanes at Ninja Stadium on Wednesday 13 November.