Strikers Beat Hurricanes by 4 Wickets Off the Last Ball: Ecclestone's Two Fours Leave Hobart Still Waiting

Some teams lose games. Others keep finding new ways to lose the same game. The Hurricanes went into the last over at Bellerive Oval with the Strikers needing 12, and when Molly Strano had Laura Wolvaardt caught off her second ball, it was 10 off 4 with two new batters in. For a side without a win all season, it was the closest they had come to one. Then Sophie Ecclestone, who had faced nothing, hit her first ball for four, and the last ball of the match for four as well.

It was the Hurricanes' fifth defeat in five games, and their third in a row by four wickets. The Strikers, who had lost their last two, are back to two wins from four.

The Strikers chose to bowl, and their new-ball pair did the job. Ella Wilson's four overs cost 12 runs, Megan Schutt's 24, and the Hurricanes made only 23 in the four-over powerplay. Ecclestone had Lizelle Lee lbw for 19, and Madeline Penna, given a single over, caught and bowled Rachel Trenaman. When the innings ended, the Strikers had also run out two batters, both through Penna.

The chase was built on Emma de Broughe. She and Maia Bouchier added 43 inside six overs, Bouchier hitting five fours in her 26 off 19, and at the halfway mark the Strikers were 71 for 1 with de Broughe on 33. She fell for 41, caught by Carey off Isabella Malgioglio, and from there the Hurricanes' spinners slowly squeezed. Lauren Smith, who had already removed Bouchier, came back to have McGrath caught, Strano removed Penna, Carey had Ellie Johnston caught, and the Strikers went from 79 for 2 to 127 for 5 with an over left. Wolvaardt, on 25 at the start of it, was meant to finish the job. She hit two off the first ball, then was caught by Trenaman off the second. Ecclestone took it from there: four, a single, a single from Amanda-Jade Wellington, and four off the final ball.

Carey was back in the side, and the Hurricanes were very glad of it. She came in at 31 for 2 in the fifth over and was still there at the end, 66 not out off 53 balls with nine fours, reaching fifty off 46. Nobody else passed 19. Chamari Athapaththu struggled to 10 off 26 balls and was retired out in the 12th over to bring in quicker hitters, a sign of how stuck the innings had become. Heather Graham helped Carey add 41 off 31 balls before she was run out, and Chinelle Henry was run out off the last ball.

With the ball, they did almost everything right. Graham went for 20 in four overs, Smith for 6 in two, and Strano's two wickets turned a comfortable chase into a nervy one. The trouble is that 138 left them almost no room, and in the last over two balls in the slot were enough. Strano, who had bowled so well, will remember them for a while.

This was a slow, low-scoring night at Bellerive. The seamers found a little movement early, and both sides struggled to score quickly once the spinners came on. The Hurricanes had 58 for 2 at the halfway mark; the Strikers had 71 for 1 but needed until the last ball. Only 277 runs were scored in 40 overs, and no one hit a six all match.

De Broughe's 41 off 37 balls was not flashy, with four fours, but it was the innings that kept the Strikers ahead of the rate on a slow pitch. While Bouchier attacked, she rotated the strike, and when Bouchier fell she kept going with Wolvaardt until the 11th over. On a night when the next highest score in the chase was 27, that was the difference between a tight finish and no finish at all.

We leaned to the Strikers, narrowly, and they won with no balls to spare, which is about as narrow as it gets. We said Carey's return could matter as much as anything for the Hurricanes, and she made 66 not out. We picked out Graham's bowling as a good sign, and she conceded just 20. We also said the middle overs against the spinners might decide it, and they nearly turned it the Hurricanes' way, though it was their spinners, not the Strikers', who did the squeezing. We thought about 160 would be a fair total; 138 was nearly enough. Wolvaardt, our key Strikers batter, made 27 and fell in the last over.

The Strikers are fifth on two wins from four, level on points with the Thunder, Heat and Renegades. They go to the WACA to play the unbeaten Scorchers on November 14. The Hurricanes, bottom with five losses, host the Heat at Bellerive on the same day, still looking for their first win.