adelaide strikers 177 for 3 (Mack 86, Wolvaardt 47, Day 3-24) beat melbourne stars 29 (Shutts 3-3, Wellington 3-4) by 148 runs
The Adelaide Strikes made a sensational record-breaking start to the defense of their WBBL title, bowling out the Melbourne Stars for just 29 runs on the way to a crushing 148-run win at Karen Rolton Oval.
No Stars batsman could reach double digits, with Sophia Dunkley scoring the highest 9 runs.
Captain Tahlia McGrath ended an embarrassingly one-sided game by taking the last two wickets.
The previous largest winning margin was Sydney Sixers’ 103-run win over Hobart Hurricanes.
“We had an unreal start with the bat with Katie and Laura and then with the ball with Mushi (Mushangwe) and Shooter (Shutt), so very pleased,” McGrath told Fox Sports.
“An ideal start but it’s a long tournament, it’s a really tough tournament, so we have to be at our best for the next six weeks.”
The Strikers’ openers bowled some poor bowling, conceding at least one four in each of the first nine overs.
Mack scored 11 runs off Kim Garth’s first over, hit a few fours behind point and made 49 of her team’s first 55 runs. He hit 10 fours in his first 50 runs, consistently hitting back-of-length balls to the legside boundary.
Left-arm finger spinner Sophie Dey briefly pulled her team back into the match. He had Woolwart caught at long on and three balls later, Mack was stumped by Nicole Faltom.
Day also had Bridget Patterson caught, but McGrath did some powerful hitting in the final overs.
The Stars’ reply was disastrous as the visitors played away many loose shots and provided catching practice to the strikers.
Captain Meg Lanning became the victim of Shutt for 1 run in the second over and Mushangwe dismissed England stars Dunkley and Ellis Capsey in the third over and the innings never recovered.