Women’s Big Bash League: Jemimah, Smriti slam fifties

Jemimah Rodrigues and Smriti Mandhana excelled with the bat for their respective teams as Melbourne Renegades defeated Sydney Thunder by nine runs in the Women’s Big Bash League.

FILE PHOTO: Jemimah Rodrigues is now fifth among leading run-getters in the WBBL.

Jemimah Rodrigues and her Indian team-mate Smriti Mandhana excelled for their respective teams as Melbourne Renegades defeated Sydney Thunder by nine runs in the Women’s Big Bash league in Launceston, Australia, on Wednesday.

The 21-year-old Rodrigues, a top-order batter for the Indian women’s team, slammed nine fours during her 56-ball 75 to power Melbourne to 142 for five. Mandhana’s 44-ball 64 went in vain as the Sixers were limited to 133 for 8 in its 20 overs. The match also featured two more Indians in T20 skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and spin all-rounder Deepti Sharma.

They snapped one wicket each but couldn’t contribute much with the bat.

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Harmanpreet, who had dished out an all-round performance in Melbourne Renegades’ seven-wicket win over Sydney Sixers in its previous match, managed just three before being trapped by Kate Peterson. Deepti scored 23 off 10 balls but that was not enough to take Sydney Thunder across the line in the end.

The 24-year-old Deepti had scored a 48-ball 44 and also took one for 28 in Thunders’ previous match against Melbourne Stars, but it wasn’t enough as the Thunder lost by 12 runs.