Scorchers Beat Thunder by 17 Runs — Devine Walks Off, Kemp Walks In, King Finishes It

It is not easy to walk off when nobody has got you out. Sophie Devine did it on Thursday night at Drummoyne Oval. She had 42 off 39 balls, but only 10 off her last 16, and with three overs left she retired herself out. Freya Kemp came in and hit 30 off 10. Perth Scorchers took 47 off those last three overs and finished on 183 for 3.

That turned out to be the difference. Sydney Thunder fought hard, and at one stage had a real chance, but they were bowled out for 166 in 19 overs. Alana King took the last four wickets. The Scorchers have won all three of their games and sit on top of the table.

Beth Mooney batted through the innings. She survived an on-field dismissal in the fourth over when her review overturned it, reached 50 off 36 balls, and finished unbeaten on 80 off 55, with eight fours and a six. It was her 49th WBBL half-century, extending her own competition record. She put on 51 with Katie Mack and 85 with Devine.

Devine's innings was the scratchy part. She could not get the ball away, and she knew it. Her exit after 16.6 overs brought in Kemp, who hit two fours and three sixes in ten balls. Mooney said afterwards that it is hard watching a six-hitter walk off, but that Kemp "absolutely whacked it". It was a captain's kind of decision, made by the former captain.

With the ball, Chloe Ainsworth again struck with the first delivery of the chase, bowling Georgia Voll, as she had in the previous game. She later removed Litchfield. Devine took two wickets, including Knight stumped by Mooney, and then King finished the job.

Thunder did not go quietly. Phoebe Litchfield made 34 off 19 and they had 41 on the board after the first four overs despite losing Voll first ball. When Knight was stumped at 101 for 5 in the 13th over, the game looked over. Then Laura Harris and Tahlia Wilson took 35 off the two-over power surge and put on 43 off 18 balls. At 144 for 5 after 15.4 overs, Thunder needed 40 off 26.

King was brought back, and she bowled Harris for 29. From there Thunder lost their last five wickets for 22 runs. King took four of them, three in the 19th over. The Thunder will also look at their 20 extras in the field. Twelve of them came in the first six overs, and in a game decided by 17 runs that matters.

The second game of the Drummoyne double-header played much like the first. Batting was good all day, with both sides scoring at more than eight an over in the powerplay. The bowlers who mattered were the spinners and the change-of-pace bowlers: King, Devine and Barsby, whose three overs cost only 18. Pace on the ball, from either side, went to the boundary.

Mooney's 80 not out was the frame everything else was built on. While wickets and strike rates changed around her, she kept the innings moving at almost a run and a half a ball. She also kept wicket and completed the stumping that removed Knight. King's four wickets and Kemp's cameo will be remembered, but neither would have mattered without a captain batting all 20 overs.

Our preview did not pick a winner. It did name Beth Mooney as the batter leading Perth and Alana King's leg-spin as a key to their control, and those were the two players who decided the game. We were right that both sides came in unbeaten. We also named Piepa Cleary for the death overs, and she did not play in this match. And we suggested the Thunder seamers might find swing under lights. Lauren Bell's four overs went for 43, so that did not happen.

The Scorchers, three from three, play Melbourne Stars at North Sydney Oval on November 8. Thunder drop to two wins from three and face Sydney Sixers at North Sydney Oval the same day.