Perth opener Katie Mack has had a cheeky dig at the Sydney Sixers’ home form ahead of the clash that will decide who plays Hobart for the WBBL title.
The Scorchers will fly to Sydney after beating Melbourne by 28 runs in Tuesday night’s knockout final.
They will now meet the Sixers at North Sydney on Thursday night and the winner will then head to Hobart to take on the Hurricanes in Saturday’s title decider.
“I’m not sure about their record at North Sydney – I heard something about that,” Mack told Fox Sports after the win over the Stars.
Sydney secured a home final on Sunday in the last game of the regular season, beating Adelaide by one run at North Sydney.
While they beat the Thunder at the same venue, it was also the scene of Sixers’ disastrous November 20 loss to the Melbourne Stars.
After Meg Lanning put on a clinic and scored 135 in 4-219 – the highest individual and team scores of the season – the Sixers were blasted out for 42.
The Sixers also lost to the Hurricanes this season at North Sydney.
But Sydney went on a tear after the Stars loss, winning four out of five completed games to finish second on the ladder.
The Scorchers have been even more impressive, winning five of their last six.
It was a far cry from their opening match, when the Sixers mauled Perth by 10 wickets at the WACA ground.
“It was a key thing for me, to try and make the final, the first year I was here – I guess validate the reason they picked me up,” said Mack, who joined Perth this season from the Adelaide Strikers.
“Our first game obviously was a bit miserable. To build throughout the comp and come into the finals probably playing our best cricket, it’s really exciting.”
Mack top-scored with 52 and put on a 107- run opening stand with Beth Mooney (45) as the Scorchers reached 5-173.
The Stars took it up to Perth in their run chase, but once Lanning was dismissed for 49 their chances were shot and they finished on 9-145.
“It was a bit up and down. There were probably some times when I thought they were going to run away with it, but that’s always a run chase in a high-pressure situation – a couple of wickets, things can change very, very quickly,” Mack said.
“We kept them at that eight, nine (runs) an over the whole time, so as they lost wickets it got out of their hands.”
One of the highlights of the match was the duel between Lanning and 20-year-old Scorchers opening bowler Chloe Ainsworth.
After dropping a straightforward chance from Lanning, Ainsworth made up for it in the next over when she had the Stars great caught behind by Mooney, the player of the match.
“She (Ainsworth) was great and her ability to bring the ball in at the moment is a really good match-up for Meg – obviously she’s so strong through that gully region,” Mack said.
“Chloe is a gun, especially for her age.”
https://thewest.com.au/sport/cricket/heard-something-about-that-wbbl-dig-at-sixers-c-20950024
