Stars cruise past Wellington
The Melbourne Stars shone bright and burnt the Wellington Firebirds during the Basin Blast yesterday.
Chasing 169 for victory, English import Luke Wright bludgeoned the Firebirds attack to all parts, scoring 112 from 63 balls.
Wright clobbered eight sixes and nine fours during his knock, and seemed at complete ease while doing it as a crowd of about 1000 watched from the banks of the Basin Reserve.
Earlier, the Melbourne Stars women romped to 204-0 from their 20 overs against the Wellington Blaze, on the back of 128 from Meg Lanning.
The day ended with a Luke Wright show.
Wright was at his belligerent best from the start, giving Melbourne a fast start to their chase of 169.
When he wasn’t providing catching chances to those on the bank, he was testing the structural integrity of the Museum Stand with savage blows towards its base.
David Hussey put on a brief show of his own in blasting 36 from 18 balls late on, but Wright had done all the damage as Melbourne eased home with 17 balls left.
Wellington struggled a little at the top of the order, with Hamish Marshall (23 from 22) and Tom Blundell (15 from 15) barely scoring at a run a ball with the field up.
But when Stephen Murdoch ventured out to the middle he picked up the pace, scoring a fine 47 from 39 balls, increasing the tempo of the innings.
Where the Firebirds batsmen were able to score relatively freely against most Melbourne bowlers, Ben Hilfenhaus caused major headaches with an economical spell, conceding just 22 runs in his four overs.
Michael Pollard was the one to really accelerate for Wellington, scoring a quick fire 45 from only 19 deliveries before sending one straight up, with Jackson Coleman doing well to take the catch from his own bowling.
The win gave Melbourne’s men two from two in New Zealand, having won their behind-closeddoors match on Tuesday evening.
In the earlier game, Meg Lanning put on a clinic in batting for the Melbourne Stars women as she and opening partner Emma Inglis shared an unbeaten 204-run partnership.
A classy right-hand bat, Lanning didn’t offer up a single chance in her knock of 128 not out, carving the Wellington Blaze bowlers to all parts of the ground during their 38-run victory.
For every powerful pull or lofted drive, she produced a delicate late cut or well weighted glance off the legs.
Her 50 came in the 11th over, slamming a six over the midwicket fence, before accelerating to bring up her 100 in the 16th over.
Inglis did offer up one good chance in her 72, when a boundary fielder misjudged her pull shot and allowed it to go over their head.
But with that early loosener aside, Inglis was also in full control in securing her 50 in the 15th over, before kicking on late.
Wellington’s Sophie Devine wasn’t going to make it easy on Melbourne and raced to a fifty in just five overs in reply, as the Blaze were 62-0 after quarter of the contest.
Devine fell for 54 soon after, and despite aggressive knocks from Eimear RIchardson (27) and Amelia Kerr (45), Wellington left themselves with too big a task in finishing on 166-4.