SYDNEY, Australia, CMC – Explosive former West Indies all-rounder Deandra Dottin smashed an unbeaten fifty and returned to grab two wickets as she propelled underdogs Adelaide Strikers to a 10-run victory over Sydney Sixers and to their first ever Women’s Big Bash League title here yesterday.
Choosing to bat first in the final at North Sydney Oval, Strikers gathered 147 for five from their 20 overs, with Dottin top-scoring with an unbeaten 52 from 37 deliveries and opener Katie Mack getting 31 from 26 balls.
In reply, Sixers were turned over for 137 off their 20 overs, 19-year-old new ball seamer Darcie Brown claiming two for 15 from her four overs and Dottin weighing in with two for 30 from her four overs.
Dottin, who retired from international cricket last August, proved the architect of the game’s turning point, producing a double-wicket maiden in the fifth over to remove the experienced Suzie Bates for 10 and Player-of-the-tournament Ashleigh Gardner without scoring.
Number eight Maitlan Brown tried to rescue the run chase with a 17-ball 34 while captain Ellyse Perry chipped in with 33 from 32 balls and Nicole Bolton, 32 from 27 balls, but the 23 required from the final over proved out of Sixers’ reach.
“We got off to a really good start, stumbled in the middle, then D-Dot (Dottin) was awesome at the end,” said Strikers skipper Tahlia McGrath.
Dottin said: “It means a lot to me. Been a long season for me after retirement. I’ve come here and bonded well. They made me comfortable.”
Mack handed her side a great start, lashing five fours in a 51-run opening stand with South African Laura Wolvaardt (15).
When both fell in successive overs, Dottin entered to put on 44 for the third with McGrath (24) before Strikers slumped, losing three wickets for 15 runs off 21 deliveries.
Dottin lived a charmed life. In the ninth over from Kate Peterson, she was dropped on one at backward point and without adding, caught at deep square off a no-ball. And on eight, the 31-year-old skied to mid-off in the 11th over only to find that Perry had also overstepped.
She made the most of the reprieves, hitting half-dozen fours and two sixes and controlling the back end of the innings in a 35-run, sixth wicket stand with Tegan McPharlin (eight not out).
Sixers endured a horrendous start to their run chase, slumping to 16 for four in the sixth over thanks in part to Dottin’s magic.
The Barbadian got Bates to hole out on the ropes at mid-wicket off the second ball of her very first over before inducing a false stroke from Gardner and having the right-hander taken at short mid-wicket off the final delivery.
Bolton and Perry steadied the innings in a 60-run, fifth wicket partnership before Brown added 28 for the seventh wicket with Sophie Ecclestone (15) but the efforts proved in vain as the required run rate climbed out of control.