Devine and King defend 124 as Scorchers beat Stars by 15 runs

Devine and King defend 124 as Scorchers stay perfect

Perth Scorchers defended one of the smallest totals of the young Women's Big Bash League season to beat Melbourne Stars by 15 runs at Junction Oval on Monday, November 2, and move second in the early standings with two wins from two matches. The Stars, who won the toss and chose to bowl, were dismissed for 109 in 18.1 overs chasing 125, leaving them fifth with one win from three games.

The match was decided by bowling discipline rather than batting firepower. Perth made only 124 for nine from 20 overs, yet Sophie Devine took four for 19 and Alana King three for 17. Together they claimed seven wickets for 36 runs in eight overs, at economy rates of 4.75 and 4.25 respectively, and the Stars never recovered once captain Meg Lanning fell.

A batting innings that stalled after a bright start

Perth began as if 160 was on the cards. Openers Beth Mooney and Katie Mack took the Scorchers to 36 without loss after the powerplay, and the score reached 70 for two. Then spin changed the match. Left-arm orthodox bowler Sophie Day, off-spinner Charlie Dean and leg-spinner Maisy Gibson each took two wickets, exploiting a two-paced surface and the drizzle that fell through the evening, and Perth collapsed from 70 for two to 76 for seven.

Mooney, who has taken over the captaincy from long-serving skipper Devine, made 17. That was bettered only by King, whose 18 was the top score of the innings, while Chloe Ainsworth contributed 16. King was run out after striking a shot into her own foot and being unable to run, a strange moment that summed up a stop-start innings. Gibson finished with two for 10 and Day two for 17, and the Stars would have felt they had done the hard work in restricting a side containing Mooney, Devine and Mack to 124.

That feeling did not last. Ainsworth dismissed Rhys McKenna caught behind from the first ball of the chase, and the Stars lost three wickets inside the first four overs despite scoring 30 runs in the powerplay. Ainsworth then produced a diving catch in the ring to remove Amy Jones for 18, and Devine's experience began to squeeze the chase.

Lanning stands alone, then the chase unravels

Lanning was, by a clear distance, the best batter on either side. Her 41 from 36 balls, with three fours and a six, held the Stars together while partners came and went, and at 79 for four the home side still appeared in control. Mooney, standing up to the stumps, then took another slick catch, and Devine brought the key wickets of Australia all-rounder Annabel Sutherland for a duck and England captain Dean for 13, the latter brilliantly stumped by Mooney.

When Lanning fell to make it 79 for five, the match tilted decisively. Player of the Match Devine summed up the plan afterwards, saying: "It was all about trying to get the ball on the stumps. Moons probably made me look better than I was. It was a whole team effort, which is what we really pride ourselves on."

The Stars lost their last five wickets for 30 runs. Georgia Prestwidge made 13 late in the innings, but there was no second substantial partnership to support Lanning, and King's intervention closed the door. The leg-spinner bowled a double-wicket maiden in the 18th over to finish with three for 17, and the Stars were bundled out for 109 in 18.1 overs, with 11 balls unused. Lilly Mills took the final wicket, Prestwidge caught by Freya Kemp.

What this win says about Perth

This was not a win built on one brilliant innings. It was a win built on Perth recognising the conditions quicker than Melbourne did with the bat. A total of 124 is usually a losing score in the WBBL, especially after a side has been 36 without loss, but Perth's bowlers treated every ball as a contest for the stumps, denied the Stars width and pace to work with, and trusted their fielders in the ring. Ainsworth's early strike and catching set the tone, Mooney's wicketkeeping under drizzle added pressure, and Devine and King did the damage in the middle overs as the required rate climbed.

For the Stars, the concern is not Lanning's form but the lack of support around her. Jones made 18, Dean 13 and Prestwidge 13, and their bowling, led by Gibson and Day, had done enough to win the match. Their batting gave that work away in clusters: three wickets in the powerplay, then five for 30 at the death.

Perth now face the similarly undefeated Sydney Thunder at Drummoyne Oval on Thursday, a match that will test whether this attack can defend modest totals against stronger batting. The Stars host the Sydney Sixers at Junction Oval on Friday at 7:10pm, where they will need a far more collective batting effort. On this evidence, the Scorchers do not need a perfect batting day to win. They need Devine and King to bowl as they did on Monday, and that made 124 more than enough.