Amidst all the buzz around the World Cup and the IPL retentions and releases, the Women’s Big Bash League is well and truly into its business end and the Senior Women’s Zonal T20 is becoming a closely fought affair. Let’s not take our eye off the ball ..

WBBL:

Amelia Kerr: A 64(44) in a lost cause against the Sydney Sixers Women and a 20(17) against the Sydney Thunder Women in a winning one. Amelia Kerr doesn’t have a lot of off days, and certainly didn’t have one in this week. More importantly, her all-round performances have carried Brisbane Heat into the play-offs.

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Nat Sciver-Brunt: She’s spoilt us over the years with her authoritative batting, and although she did anchor the innings with a solid 24(29) against the Melbourne Stars Women and a 32(30) against the Adelaide Strikers Women, it wasn’t quite the Nat dominance we know. But with her side – Perth Scorchers Women – in the play-offs, trust her to have saved her top game for the big occasion. Ask MI!

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Harmanpreet Kaur: A blip. It’s safe to say that the Melbourne Renegades didn’t have the season they’d have envisaged, finishing last in the league, and our Kaptaan wrapped up her tour with a duck and a 1* in a rained out final fixture.

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Hayley Matthews: With the Renegades already out of contention for the playoffs, Hailstorm Hayley was well and truly on her way to finishing the season on a high for her side. Alas, the rain was her undoing. Having taken two wickets in the first innings against the Melbourne Stars and then having held control of the chase with a 10-ball 19, the end wasn’t to be, falling short on the DLS total when the rain came down.

Senior Women’s Inter-Zonal T20 Trophy:

Amanjot Kaur: Two games, two top finishes. Batting at number five for North Zone, Amanjot Kaur smashed a 34-ball 48 against North East Zone, and followed it up with a 17-ball 28 against South Zone. And what better? The performances saw her side winning comfortably.

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Humairaa Kaazi: In a single-handed effort where the rest of West Zone’s batters collapsed against East Zone, Humairaa stood tall with a counter-attacking 34-ball 41 to lift her side to a respectable 109. It wasn’t enough to avoid defeat though. But she turned her side’s fortunes around in the next game, having been given the captaincy in the absence of Jemimah Rodrigues, leading them to a four-wicket win over Central Zone.

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Saika Ishaque: Giant strides at rapid pace. Two wickets for just 17 runs in her four overs against West Zone to derail their innings. And when you though she couldn’t up it, she snapped up TWO WICKETS FOR TWO RUNS in three overs against North East Zone to completely strange them.