Meg Lanning (Melbourne Stars) vs Sarah Glenn (Perth Scorchers)
Meg Lanning, one of the most graceful batters in the women’s game, was in sublime form during the WBBL 2020 campaign, amassing 458 runs in 13 matches in the league.
As they bid to reach their maiden final in the WBBL, the Melbourne Stars skipper is one of the key players on her side. It will be fascinating to see the tactic employed by the Scorchers against her with the right-handed batter preferring the ball coming on to the bat in the initial part of her innings.
In Sarah Glenn, the Girls in Orange have one of the most thrilling leg-spinners in their ranks. In this edition of the WBBL, the England international has been excellent, picking up four wickets for 18 runs in the last league match against the Adelaide Strikers.
The 21-year-old has the potential to use the new ball to bowl. In the Scorchers’ attempts to counter Meg Lanning, who is in great form with the bat, her subtle variations could prove to be useful.
Sophie Devine (Perth Scorchers) vs Sophie Day (Melbourne Stars)
As stated previously, the Perth Scorchers in WBBL 2020 were heavily dependent on their formidable opening combination of Sophie Devine and Beth Mooney.
In the batting department, the duo has managed to shoulder the majority of the burden for the side. The absence of runs from their middle-order is one of the big chinks in the Scorchers’ armour. This season their foreign stars, Amy Jones and Nicole Bolton, didn’t experience a great run in the WBBL, and that placed the openers of the Scorchers under immense pressure.
In Sophie Day, the Stars have a quality left-arm spinner who could unsettle the openers of the Scorchers. It could be hard for her to time the ball and gain maximum value for her shots with the ball turning away from the hard-hitting Devine.
The 22-year-old spinner was one of the findings of the 2020 WBBL tournament and enjoyed a reasonably successful run against the Scorchers; in the last game between the sides, she picked up three for 16.
Beth Mooney (Perth Scorchers) vs Natalie Sciver (Melbourne Stars)
The leading WBBL 2020 run-scorer Beth Mooney, will be up against Natalie Sciver and Katherine Brunt’s English duo.
In this all-important game, the experienced duo has been assigned the responsibility of bowling with the new ball and will look to create an immediate impact. In WBBL 2020, Sciver is the leading wicket-taker with 18 wickets in 12 games at an economical pace below seven runs over.
In the past couple seasons, Sciver has improved her bowling by leaps and bounds and has emerged as a genuine allrounder for the England side.
Her ability to bowl a fast line and length could enable the Stars to create pressure on Mooney and skipper Sophie Devine’s Perth Scorchers opening combination. It could allow them to make inroads into the fragile middle order of Scorchers if the Stars manage to frustrate the left-hander and give her very little space to free her weapons.