Mushangwe’s 5-11 ends Perth Scorchers’ unbeaten WBBL|12 run

At the WACA Ground on November 14, Adelaide Strikers ended Perth Scorchers’ unbeaten start to the WBBL|12 season with a commanding 52-run victory. The Strikers batted first and posted 4-202, their highest-ever score in the Women’s Big Bash League, before restricting the Scorchers to 9-150 in reply.

The result moved Adelaide to fourth place on six points from five games, while Perth remained second despite suffering their first defeat of the campaign. Zimbabwean leg-spinner Anesu Mushangwe was named Player of the Match after returning to the Adelaide XI and producing a maiden five-wicket haul in WBBL cricket.

How did Adelaide Strikers build their record total?

South African opener Laura Wolvaardt anchored the innings with an unbeaten 83, providing the platform from which Adelaide accelerated sharply. Emma de Broughe contributed 51, and Maddy Penna added a rapid 44 off just 19 balls to push the total beyond reach. Adelaide were positioned at 3-106 after 14 overs before the batting unit shifted gears decisively in the closing stages.

The final six overs, from the 15th to the 20th, yielded 96 runs in total. Those overs produced 22, 18, 11 and 23 runs in succession across the last four, with the Power Surge phase alone contributing a WBBL-record 40 runs. That late surge transformed a competitive score into an imposing one that Perth were never able to chase down.

How did Mushangwe dismantle the Perth Scorchers chase?

Recalled to the Adelaide XI, the 30-year-old Mushangwe was the central figure in the Scorchers’ collapse, finishing with 5-11 off four overs in what was her career-best WBBL return. She removed Sophie Devine for a first-ball duck in the opening over and then dismissed Beth Mooney for 7 to leave Perth in early trouble.

Mushangwe bowled Katie Mack for 14 with a slider in just her third over, having taken three wickets for one run in seven balls at that point. She completed her five-wicket haul in the 16th over during the Power Surge, bowling Alana King for 12 and then removing Chloe Ainsworth for 7 as her fifth victim.

Mikayla Friday top-scored for Perth with 41, and Freya Kemp made 28, but those contributions were not enough to mount a serious challenge against a target of 203. Ainsworth had earlier taken 1-23 off four overs with the ball for the Scorchers, while Mushangwe’s figures of 5-11 ensured Adelaide’s record total was more than sufficient to end Perth’s perfect record in WBBL|12.

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