MELBOURNE Stars batter Erin Osborne described Sydney Thunder’s Harmanpreet Kaur as the difference after she steered the WBBL heavyweight to an eight-wicket win at Lavington Sportsground on Tuesday.
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With the Stars on track for a reasonable score after racing to 0-40, Kaur and her teammates grabbed 6-33 to virtually seal victory.
“Harmanpreet Kaur came on and started bowling googlies and a few offies and the googlies really took off,” Osborne said.
Her four overs were probably the difference in the game. I personally found it hard to score off her
- Erin Osborne
“They ripped into the wicket and bounced a bit more and they were really hard to play.
“So credit to her as she bowled exceptionally well today.
“Her four overs were probably the difference in the game.
“I personally found it hard to score off her.
“We lost clumps of wickets.
“I think 140 was par on that wicket so we were probably 30 runs short.”
Kaur finished with 3-18 while Nicola Carey was also dangerous with 2-17.
While Osborne was reluctant to declare her former side as the team to defeat, Thunder’s depth will be difficult to counter as the tournament progresses.
Rachael Haynes and Rachel Priest put on a blistering 86-run opening partnership in pursuit of the Stars’ total of 8-114.
Haynes hammered 54 off 33 balls including eight boundaries and one six.
Priest chipped in with 38 off 35 deliveries to allow star duo Alex Blackwell (three not out) and Stafanie Taylor (17 not out) to cruise home.
The shining light for Melbourne Stars was wicketkeeper Lizelle Lee.
She backed up her strong performance last weekend by making 31 off 25 balls and received some support from Anna Lanning (25), Osborne (21) and Alana King (21).
“Lizelle Lee at the top of the order was fantastic for us,” Osborne said.
“We seem to have had a couple of rough matches to start the tournament but there will be plenty of positives taken from this.”
Haynes, who was named player-of-the-match, said the bowlers set up the win.
“As a group, the bowlers worked really well,” she said.
“Our team is gelling together nicely.
“We haven’t played our perfect game yet.
“The wicket was a bit slow compared to North Sydney but there were still plenty of runs out there.
“If we had batted for 20 overs, I still think we could have made 180 or so.”
Sydney Thunder has scored impressive wins over Melbourne Renegades and Melbourne Stars and look well placed for another dash at the title.
On the other hand, the Stars have fallen well short to date and desperately need more support for Lee.
“It’s early on so I can see us turning it around quickly,” Osborne said.
“Thunder has a really good team but it’s Twenty20 cricket and we will draw a line and hopefully turn it around pretty quickly.”
