WBBL|04 Season 2018-19

[DEVO]

The new WBBL season begins this weekend with double headers on Saturday and Sunday at the CitiPower Centre at St. Kilda.

On Saturday it's the Scorchers V Hurricanes at 10.40am followed by Stars V Sixers at 1.50pm
On Sunday it's the Strikers V Heat at 10.40am followed by Renegades V Thunder at 1.50pm.

All four games will be televised on 7mate.

Can anyone beat the Sixers or will the dynasty continue?

 

[eth-dog]

It's called the Junction Oval mate.

 

[DEVO]

Not anymore, apparently.

 

[Cleavy]

it's still Junction Oval to me, dammit!

 

[Teen Wolf]

Looking at the changes of each full-strength squad from last summer, it makes for encouraging reading in terms of competition balance. 3 of the bottom 4 teams from WBBL|03 should definitely be better, and the Stars should improve too as long as they can get and keep a clean injury list asap. 3 of the top 4 teams all have outs which will be hard to cover (Scorchers more batting power, but without their spiritual bowling leader in Brunt), and if the Strikers are stronger like I expect then that's fine with me since they haven't made a final yet anyway.

Keen to see how Alex Hartley goes with the ball today for the Hurricanes, she's been good every time I've seen her but never seemed to be in England's World T20 mix.

EDIT: Actually, in my mind I erroneously lumped the Heat in with the top 4. Dottin out sucks for them, but they did have quite a few unlucky results last season so still expecting them to be a tough outfit to beat.

 

[DEVO]

143 is probably a little disappointing after the brilliant start made by Fazackerley.

 

[Cleavy]

Stars are still crap, but to be fair, they're up against a strong Sixers lineup.

 

[DEVO]

You would have to think 200 is a minimum target for the Sixers after this start. And Healy hasn’t hit her straps yet either

 

[Cleavy]

I don't know who is doing the commentary but it's not very good. Worse than Howie.

EDIT: Urgh, Andy Maher. Dirk is doing special comments today, so not him as I originally thought.

EDIT again: it's Jason Richardson. He has an annoying try hard voice.

 

[DEVO]

Sixers are genuinely disappointing today. Perhaps their worst performance since the beginning of BB01.

 

[Teen Wolf]

The momentum shifts in both games were almost a thing of beauty. No-balls aside, bowling plans were the decisive factors more so than execution. Hobart were in a good spot but lost direction in the field late, having Heather Knight out there would've been a big help. Second match: Lizelle Lee is a powerful batsman but not especially difficult to figure out, give her room to swing and you'll go the journey so the Sixers' tactics were a bit baffling to me.

 

[Aussie_boy]

Some horrible running to start this one.

 

[eth-dog]

This game was over 3 overs into Brisbane's innings

 

[Torz]

This game was over 3 overs into Brisbane's innings

They haven’t even tried to win.

 

[eth-dog]

They haven’t even tried to win.

The bowling is right on the money. I'm switching to the golf

 

[Aussie_boy]

They haven’t even tried to win.

They were pretty reliant on Mooney last season and her timing has been well off until this over.

 

[DEVO]

They haven’t even tried to win.

I wouldn’t say they didn’t try, I thought the Strikers bowling was exceptional, and Mooney being below her normal standard didn’t help either.

 

[nobbyiscool]

The 2 games yesterday were pretty great to watch. The first one today was a bit rubbish. Not sure if Brisbane are total s**t or the Strikers' bowling was that good.

Also, I have a mad crush on Abbey Gelmi.

 

[DEVO]

Not the best start, my two favourites got second ball duck yesterday and one today.

 

[DEVO]

Lot of Canberra Meteors in these teams, maybe we should get our own team.

 

[Cleavy]

At least the Renegades batting looks more organised this season. Last year, Strano and a few others were too high up the order for their ability.

 

[Cleavy]

Same story. Why can't we have 2 decent Melbourne teams?

 

[Teen Wolf]

Heat's batting was fine, bowlers let them down with a lot of legside garbage and the Strikers didn't return the favour.

Satterthwaite... that's that bullshit I've been banging on about forever. I get wickets are tumbling around her but, sheesh, it'd be great if the experience could not throw their wickets away to nothing balls. Never mind, not a surprising turn of events without Wyatt.

 

[Cleavy]

Expecting Thunder to get this total in about 7 overs.

 

[Restricted Free Agent]

******* hell Thunder doing a number on us here.