Sixers Beat Stars by 1 Run — Ellyse Perry's 84* and Sarah Coyte's Last Over Settle a Rivalry Classic

Some matches are decided by a great innings, and some by a single ball at the end. This one had both. Ellyse Perry batted through the Sydney Sixers innings for 84 not out, and still the game came down to the last ball, Georgia Prestwidge needing four, scrambling two, and Melbourne Stars falling one run short of 161.

It was a fitting result for one of the WBBL's oldest rivalries. The Sixers, who came in two from two, are now three from three. The Stars, who had one win from three, will feel they let this one go in the first five balls of their chase as much as in the last six.

The Sixers chose to bat and were soon 25 for 2. Sophia Dunkley fell to Sophie Day in the third over and Melie Kerr to Maisy Gibson in the fifth. Perry and Ashleigh Gardner then added 67 off 45 balls, Gardner hitting two sixes in her 34 before she was stumped off Charlie Dean. When Alice Capsey was bowled by Annabel Sutherland for 3, the Sixers were 98 for 4 in the 14th over and the Stars had a chance to keep it to 140.

Erin Burns made sure they did not. She and Perry added 62 off 37 balls for the fifth wicket, Burns making 29 off 21 before she was run out off the last ball. Perry reached 50 off 36 balls and kept going. Her 84 off 57 was more than half the total.

With the ball, Lauren Cheatle struck first ball of the chase, bowling McKenna, and Kerr had Lanning lbw in the fifth over; Lanning's review did not save her. The Sixers used seven bowlers and every one who took the ball in the chase except Caoimhe Bray took a wicket.

From 0 for 1 and 29 for 2, the Stars kept finding someone. Amy Jones made 28 and added 25 off 19 with Sutherland, but both went in the space of nine balls and it was 62 for 4 in the ninth over. Naomi Stalenberg and Dean added 35 before Stalenberg was run out, and then Dean and Dani Gibson put on 37 off 23 balls. Dean was given out lbw to Gardner after a Sixers review. Gibson hit two sixes in her 31 and kept the chase alive with Prestwidge.

They needed 17 off the last two overs. Gardner gave up nine in the 19th, Prestwidge hitting the first ball for four. That left eight off Sarah Coyte's final over. Coyte had Gibson caught by Kerr off the second ball, and then gave up only singles and twos. With one ball left the Stars needed four. Prestwidge ran two. The Stars will look back at the top of the order, where their captain and opener made two runs between them, and at a bowling attack that let the Sixers add 62 for the fifth wicket.

Junction Oval gave a fair contest. The two totals were a run apart, and both sides lost early wickets with the new ball before batting got easier. The spinners were the hardest to score off: Day went for 20 in four overs and Frankie Nicklin for 10 in two. Pace was easier to hit, and both innings were built in the middle and late overs.

84 not out off 57 balls, 13 fours and a six, and a wicket for good measure, Sutherland caught by Dunkley in Perry's only over. She came in early and was still there at the end, watching three partners come and go and two more stay long enough to help. In a game won by one run, every one of her boundaries mattered. On a night of small margins, she was the one big one.

Our preview made the Sixers favourites, and they won, though only just. We named Perry and Dunkley as the Sixers' key openers. Perry delivered in full, Dunkley made 1. On the Stars side we got things wrong. We built their case around Marizanne Kapp and wrote of Sutherland's captaincy; Kapp was not in this XI and Meg Lanning captained. We also said Lanning on song at Junction Oval would change the game, and she made 2. We were right that Junction Oval would be a fair surface and that the Stars would be dangerous at home: they came within a run.

Both sides head to North Sydney Oval on November 8. The Sixers, still unbeaten, play Sydney Thunder; the Stars, now one from four, play Perth Scorchers.