Sydney Sixers 3 for 166 (Perry 103*) beat Brisbane Heat 7 for 155 (Jonassen 33, Burns 2-9) by 11 runs
For the second time this season, Ellyse Perry completed a T20 century even as it seemed like time was running out. And she did it in some style as well. A monstrous six over deep midwicket to take her from 93 to 99 and a sweet little sweep to the fine leg boundary to bring up the landmark. Nervous nineties? Pft.
With two balls remaining, Ellyse Perry was sitting pretty on 93 not out.
— Rebel Women's Big Bash League (@WBBL) December 22, 2018
Here's what happened next!#WBBL04 pic.twitter.com/NcjqzYbWXH
She and the Sydney Sixers were batting first, and for the most part, they were batting slowly. Even as late as the 14th over, she was only 39 off 40 deliveries. Then she got past fifty and everything changed. She began the 18th over with a sequence that read 6, 4, 6, 4 and arrived at the final over still 16 runs away from the hundred. She took all six balls - there was even a run-out as she scrambled back to retain strike - but in the end she got to the landmark.
Perry's stats this Women's Big Bash season are mind-boggling. She has 419 runs in only six innings, at an average of 209 and a strike-rate of 142. This run began almost as soon as the allrounder returned home from a victorious World T20 campaign, when she struck a 59-ball century. She was chasing then and her side had levelled the 167 put up by the Perth Scorchers but she was still three short of the hundred. Heather Graham ran in. Perry took strike. The ball was crashed straight down the ground to spark the celebrations.
The Sixers faced a sterner fight against the Heat on Saturday with almost the entire batting line-up fighting hard to get to the target of 167. Jess Jonassen top-scored with 33 but it may well have been the eighth-wicket pair of Laura Wolvaardt and Laura Harris that gave the hosts the most cause for concern, coming in with the score at 138 and pushing it dangerously close to match-winning.
