Perth's 124-run Guard: Devine and King Spin Out Stars by 15 Runs

Perth Scorchers' total of 124 for nine was never meant to be a winning score in a T20 match. On a slow, two-paced Junction Oval surface in Melbourne on Monday night, it turned out to be plenty. Melbourne Stars were bowled out for 109 in 18.1 overs, losing by 15 runs with 11 balls still unused. The foundation of that defence was built by two spinners: Sophie Devine took 4 for 19 and Alana King 3 for 17. Devine, the New Zealand all-rounder, was named player of the match. The win keeps Perth unbeaten while the Stars slip to a defeat at home. Devine's spell defined the chase. She did not blow the Stars away in one opening burst; she returned through the middle of the innings and broke the back of the batting. Her line and length repeatedly locked the batter's feet, and whenever the Stars tried to accelerate, they lost a wicket. At the other end King, a legspinner, held the pressure with three wickets for 17. Together they were the tactical core of Perth's plan on a pitch that never allowed the ball to come on. Meg Lanning provided the only real resistance. The Stars captain made 41, almost 38 per cent of her side's 109, and was still there holding the line when the fifth wicket fell at 79 in the 14th over. No one stayed with her. Charlie Dean made 13 to give the innings a little shape, and took two wickets with her offspin, while wicketkeeper Amy Jones collected four catches, two of them down the leg side. It was not enough against Devine and King. Sophie Day and Maisy Gibson took two wickets each and Dean added two more, as the Stars' spinners restricted Perth to 124. The collapse was startling: from 2 for 70 Perth crashed to 7 for 76, losing five wickets for just six runs. Yet the real mystery of the Perth innings is what followed. From 76, the tail and the not-out batters put on another 48 to reach 124. Who scored them, how, and in what manner, the match report never says. Those 48 runs, however, made the difference between a tight finish and a one-sided one. Perth's highest individual score was just 18, made by King. Nine wickets down for 124 with a top score of 18 is a statistical anomaly: it means the total was built out of small contributions rather than one anchor innings. That is precisely what made 124 hard to chase, because the target was never a fixed number a batter could aim at. Chloe Ainsworth's contribution was decisive too. She took a wicket with her first ball, dismissing Rhys McKenna, and later pulled off two catches, one of them a diving effort. Annabel Sutherland was out for a duck but took the catch that removed Devine. The biggest story of the night, however, went largely untold. Twenty wickets fell in this match; 14 of them went to spinners and slower bowlers. The Junction Oval pitch dictated the game, yet the headline focused on two individuals. In truth the match belonged to seven slow bowlers and one two-paced surface. Perth move on unbeaten, meeting the similarly undefeated Sydney Thunder at Drummoyne Oval on Thursday. The Stars stay at Junction Oval, hosting the Sydney Sixers at 7:10 pm on Friday. For the Stars the lesson is simple: a 41-run innings is not enough unless it is supported by at least two more scores of thirty-plus.