Scorpions start season in style

The SA Scorpions have started the 2023/24 WNCL season in style, with a dominant seven-wicket win over the ACT Meteors.

A full-strength Scorpions team was named at the toss, which Jemma Barsby won.

Electing to bowl, it was Megan Schutt who got SA’s first wicket of the summer, getting Burton to chop on in a double-wicket maiden.

From there it was the Barsby show, with the Scorpions captain getting the next four wickets to have ACT 5-50.

ACT steadied after that collapse, with Katie Mack and Alisha Bates getting to 6-134 before Kate Peterson quickly got two of her four wickets.

Soon after, Barsby got her fifth wicket – her first five-wicket haul in WNCL and her best figures for South Australia.

Mack and Angelina Genford had a good partnership at the end of the innings to get ACT over the 200-run mark, but Peterson got her final two wickets in the last over to bowl them out for 219.

Barsby finished with figures of 5-20 and Peterson 4-34, while Mack carried her bat and was 95* after the 50 overs.

The Scorpions batting innings got off to a superb start, with openers Bridget Patterson (51 runs) and Emma de Broughe (77 runs) having a 142-run partnership to begin the chase.

Patterson’s 11^th run in the chase brought up a significant milestone, with her becoming South Australia’s second highest run scorer in the WNCL.

Once the openers departed, Tahlia McGrath, Courtney Webb and Maddie Penna made light work of the remaining runs.

McGrath hit at a strike-rate of 120 as she raced to 42 runs off 34 balls, while Webb finished 19* off only eight balls at a strike-rate of 237.5.

Webb hit three consecutive fours to seal the match, as the Scorpions chased the runs with 11 overs to spare.

The Scorpions and Meteors will have a re-match on Sunday, again at Karen Rolton Oval.

Entry is free to the match which will begin at 10am. Food and beverage can be purchased at the Park 25 Pantry, with all match day information available here.