CRICKET
WBBL EXPORTS
By TOM HAYES
SHE may not have shone in spotlight on the biggest stage of them all, but after the Women’s Big Bash League Final, Nicole Faltum is a WBBL champion.
The Latrobe Valley cricketing export lined up for the Melbourne Renegades as they hosted Brisbane Heat at the MCG on Sunday (December 1).
Finishing the season on top of the ladder, the Renegades automatically qualified for the final, forcing them to wait and see what the other three sides in the top four could do.
Third-placed Sydney Thunder defeated the fourth-placed Hobart Hurricanes in the Knockout, advancing to play the second-placed Heat in the Challenger. The Thunder’s run stopped there, with the Heat prevailing, producing a top two showdown for the Final.
A stunning performance from Renegades opener Hayley Matthews guided the home side to the championship in a rain-affected final.
The Heat won the toss and elected to field, bringing Matthews to the crease for what would be the beginning of her match-winning innings.
Despite wickets falling around her often, she was able to put her head down and truck along with her own innings without hogging the strike.
Within five overs though, the Renegades were already 3/31, but the ship would cover steady waters soon enough.
The third wicket itself was something of a rarity, when the Renegades’ Deandra Dottin was run out without facing a ball for a diamond duck. Following a half-hearted single, Dottin’s bat was trapped before the line in an attempt to slide through comfortably.
The partnerships of Matthews and Georgia Wareham, and Matthews and Naomi Stalenberg was just what the doctor ordered.
For the fourth wicket, the Renegades surpassed 50, before the wicket of Wareham at 4/64. The fifth wicket was marginally more effective, needing to pick up the pace, the Renegades were 5/109 when Stalenberg was dismissed in the 16th over.
Up walked Faltum to the crease.
She only lasted four deliveries, trying to stay at the rate, but managed to find the boundary once before she was caught at mid-off for five.
From there on out, most of the runs came from the opener Matthews, who remained at the crease, facing 13 of the final 22 balls of the innings.
Matthews ticked past her half century during the over before Faltum’s dismissal, adding a further 18 runs before the end of the innings to see the Renegades to a total of 9/141 from their 20-over allotment.
Led by Matthews, who made 69, the respectable total was defendable by any means.
In return, Brisbane started cold too. The visitors lost two wickets in the opening two overs as the scoreboard read 2/11.
During the fourth over, with the score at 2/19, heavy rain saw players take to the sheds as the ground staff covered the wicket.
As rain softened, the covers were off, but only momentarily before they returned minutes later, delaying the restart even further.
After 30 minutes or so waiting, play resumed with an altered finish ahead.
With the use of the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method, the Heat were permitted to make 98 runs to win, with just 12 overs to do so. The equation was 79 runs from 52 balls – just over nine runs per over. With the current run rate a little over five an over, the Heat had some work to do.
Things weren’t changing quick enough for the Heat, who soon lost their third wicket at 3/27 after 4.2 overs.
Heat captain Jess Jonassen came to the crease with hopes of resurrecting the innings. She chipped away at the required total alone, frequently losing batting partners along the way.
The Heat were five down after seven overs, after Matthews put herself on a hat-trick, and with the total still in the 30s, the Renegades had one hand on the trophy.
Jonassen did well to navigate the strike, keeping tail-ender Lauren Winfield-Hill at the non-strikers end for a few overs while she knocked the ball around.
While doing so, Jonassen amassed 28 runs in three overs to have the Heat an outside chance to steal the championship.
At 6/68, Brisbane needed 30 runs from the last 13 deliveries of the game, and boy, did they give themselves a right chance.
In those final 13 balls, the Heat found the boundary multiple times, but they fell just short, managing to bring their total within eight runs of the adjusted required total of 98, Jonassen finishing with 44 from 28, hitting a six on the final ball.
But the Renegades had done it. After finishing on the bottom of the ladder last season, and after losing the first two games of this season, the red side of Melbourne were WBBL champions for the first time.
And with that, Faltum was also a WBBL champion for the first time.
“It’s amazing, an incredible crowd here. I’m incredibly proud of this group. When you are energetic and taking the game on, you hope the fun comes. It’s massive for this team,” Faltum said post-match.
Faltum will return to her Victoria duties in the Women’s National Cricket League as early as Friday, December 20 when she hopes to be available to play South Australia in a one-day match.
Victoria is set to play South Australia again two days later, for its final match of 2024.
But for now, Faltum can soak up the feelings of becoming a WBBL champion for the time being.
Faltum grew up in Moe and played junior and senior cricket for Trafalgar, as well as women’s cricket for Morwell.
The Gippsland connections were strong in the WBBL final, with Renegades captain Sophie Molineux from Bairnsdale, and coach Simon Helmot frequenting the Latrobe Valley in the last 12 months through various coaching appointments.
