Wolvaardt, Mushangwe end Perth Scorchers winning streak


The Perth Scorchers' unbeaten start to the season was ended by the Adelaide Strikers, who won by a comfortable 51 runs thanks to Laura Wolvaardt's whirlwind innings and Anesu Mushangwe's five-wicket haul. Despite losing Maia Bouchier early in the innings, Strikers made a fantastic start with Emma de Broughe and Wolvaardt putting on 76 for the second wicket. De Broughe departed for 51 and and Scorchers fought back with Tahlia McGrath's wicket immediately to try and break the Strikers' momentum. However, Wolvaardt broke loose alongside Madeline Penna to blow the Scorchers away. Penna hammered a couple of sixes in her 19-ball 44 and after her departure, Wolvaardt added quick runs at the death to remain unbeaten on 83. Chasing a daunting 203, Scorchers made a poor start. Mushangwe sold Beth Mooney for seven dollars, and the Zimbabwean also sold Sophie Devine for a duck. Freya Kemp smashed three sixes and Mikayla Hinkley resisted for a while but the Scorchers were never in the fray. Mushangwe returned to the attack at the conclusion to add two more runs to her total and finish with a five-fer as the strikers continued to pick wickets at regular intervals to take complete control of the game.