Lizelle Lee century keeps Hurricanes alive in WBBL finals race

Capetown, Nov 23
South African opener Lizelle Lee has kept the Hobart Hurricanes’ hopes of making the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) finals alive with a powerful century in a record-breaking effort by the hosts against the Melbourne Renegades.
Sparked by Lee’s 101 not out off 53 balls, Hobart piled up 212 for 3 in Thursday’s match, eclipsing their previous highest WBBL innings score by 16 runs. The Renegades scored 23 off their first two overs but then lost three wickets for seven runs and collapsed again at the end, losing 4 for 3 to be dismissed for 119 off 16.2 overs. The 93-run victory margin was the Hurricanes’ biggest WBBL win by runs and lifted them from sixth to fifth and within a point of the fourth-placed Brisbane Heat. All three teams have one more game.
Lee pounded the Renegades attack, striking 12 fours and four sixes, peppering the legside boundaries with her powerful strokes. She featured in partnerships of 55 with Elyse Villani (22 off 14) and Nicola Carey (24 off 23) and a match-tilting fourth-wicket stand of 102 off just 46 balls with Heather Graham (55 not out off 28).
Renowned big-hitter Lee brought up her third WBBL ton and her first for the Hurricanes in the final over while Graham smashed a six off the penultimate ball of the innings to notch her first half-century of the WBBL season. Georgia Wareham briefly dragged the Renegades into the game with two wickets from her first three balls of her spell In the sixth over. But Hurricanes regained the initiative, when they took their Power Surge straight after the mid-innings drinks break. They plundered 14 off each of the two overs and continued their onslaught for the remainder of the innings despite the sluggish outfield depriving them of several more runs. South African pacer Shabnim Ismail (2-21) broke through the Renegades’ top order and spinners Maisy Gibson (4-25) and Amy Smith (3-17) cleaned up the rest. Smith took all of her wickets in one over on her way to registering her best WBBL figures.
Wicketkeeper Lee supplemented her batting heroics with a great legside catch to dismiss Indian star Harmanpreet Kaur for a third-ball duck. Emma de Broughe (40 not out off 19) was the only Renegades batter to impress, playing several sumptuous offside drives among her eight boundaries.