Sydney Thunder 204 for 4 (Wilson 83, Athapaththu 58, Sippel 2-31) beat Brisbane Heat 196 for 5 (du Preez 61, A Kerr 41) by eight runs
Sydney Thunder made a statement in the WBBL, hitting the club’s highest ever total before holding on for an eight-run win in the top-of-the-table clash against Brisbane Heat.
Wooden-spooners last year with only one win, Thunder now lead the WBBL with a 5-1 record and a game in hand over the rest of the top four.
Athapaththu has been a star, but equally impressive is the form of the Thunder’s entire top order. Wilson hit 83 from 54 balls in the best night of her WBBL career, setting the tone early with a 102-run opening stand with Athapaththu from 63 balls.
The 24-year-old has made an art of piercing the leg-side field in this tournament, and seven of her 11 fours – as well as a six off Courtney Sippel – came in that fashion on Monday.
Heat only had themselves to blame, dropping Wilson three times in her fiery innings.
Athapaththu continues to be destructive, hitting 58 off 31 deliveries. She flayed the ball at will through the offside when offered width, and helped take 15 off Amelia Kerr’s first over when she hit the spinner back over her head for six.
More remarkably, the she was overlooked by everyone in the overseas player draft, before later being scooped up by Thunder.
Sippel had more success, removing Athapaththu and Phoebe Litchfield to finish with 2 for 31, while Nicola Hancock’s 2 for 32 included the wickets of Knight, and Kapp for a golden duck.
Jonassen handed the hosts a late scare, but it wasn’t enough to pull off what would have been the competition’s highest-ever chase.
