LANNING SCORCHE ‘CANES

AUSTRALIA captain Meg Lanning has smashed her maiden WBBL ton to catapult the Perth Scorchers to a convincing 35-run victory over the Hobart Hurricanes at Lilac Hill and third position on the ladder.

Lanning cracked 101 off 67 balls to guide the Scorchers to 4-167, which proved beyond the Hurricanes who replied with 6-132 yesterday.

Lanning, whose previous best was 97 not out, thumped 12 fours and three sixes in her sublime knock, dominating her 154-run opening stand with the more measured Nicole Bolton (44).

Hobart’s reply started disastrously when Saturday’s player-of-the-match Erin Fazackerley was stumped off the second ball of the innings for a duck.

Heather Knight (36) and Nicola Carey (26) batted solidly and Corinne Hall (28no) and Maisy Gibson (22no) hit out towards the end but the ‘Canes were never in the hunt.

The win saw the Scorchers (9-5) jump ahead of the fourth-placed Melbourne Renegades (8-6) and set up a semi-final stoush with the second-ranked Adelaide Strikers (10-4) who relinquished top spot after being overwhelmed by the Sydney Sixers, inspired by Alyssa Healy’s whirlwind 84 off 38 balls.

The Brisbane Heat (10-4) will host the finals series at Allan Border Field after cruising past the Melbourne Stars by eight wickets in a rain-reduced affair at St Kilda to knock off the Strikers on percentage.

The Heat will take on the Melbourne Renegades who locked in a finals spot by downing the Sydney Thunder earlier in the day.