Despite finals slot, Renegades not satisfied with state of play
SKIPPER Amy Satterthwaite says the Melbourne Renegades won’t be satisfied with their maiden finals berth following yesterday’s loss to Sydney Sixers.
Suffering a 29-run loss to the star-studded Sixers at GMHBA Stadium, thanks largely to half-centuries from Erin Burns and Ellyse Perry, Satterthwaite knows her team has some finetuning to do.
The ’Gades have lost two of their past three WBBL match- es, a concerning trend for Satterthwaite and her team.
“That (making the finals) was first and foremost, and now that we’ve ticked that off, we’ve got to ensure that we’re not satisfied with that,” Satterthwaite said.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do and the brilliant thing about finals, whenever you get to them, is it’s always a one-off and the season is irrelevant because whoever turns up and performs on the day is going to win the game and move forward.
The Sixers cemented top spot and a semi-final appearance with the win over the Renegades, setting up a rematch at Drummoyne Oval on January 19.
“That was the interesting thing about today’s game, it was a bit of a dead rubber, but it was still an important game for momentum and attitude,” Satterthwaite said.
“I thought we were brilliant in the first half of their innings, but after the start we had with the ball, we probably let them get away a bit. And even thought we probably would’ve taken 136 at the start of the day, I think we let them get a few more than we would’ve liked.”
Having knocked over Alyssa Healy and Ashleigh Gardner cheaply — and forcing Sixers’ captain Perry to play a patient knock — the Renegades lost their way in the latter part of the innings and allowed the visitors to set 2-136. Perry upped the ante late, finishing with 67 from 62, while Burns blasted 53 from 37 to grab the ascendancy.
It proved too much for the Renegades, who had one decent contribution, with Jess Duffin making a run-a-ball 39.
“I thought our new-ball bowlers upfront were outstanding,” Satterthwaite said.
“To hold a trio of batters of that calibre to the score that we did was something that you don’t see very often. It was pretty exceptional, really, but there’s still some areas that need tinkering with. When you play a quality opposition like the Sixers you know you’re going to have to play an exceptional game of cricket to tip them over but we know it’s certainly not out of our reach.”
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