New Delhi:
Alyssa Healy and Ellyse Perry are two of the dominant players in women's cricket. Healy is considered the best wicketkeeper batter in women's cricket while Perry has broken records which even the male cricketers have not been able to emulate. However, in the Women's Big Bash League clash between Sydney Sixers and Melbourne Stars at the WACA in Perth, both players stitched a new record. Perry and Healy shared a record 199-run stand for the opening wicket as Sydney Sixers ended on 199/0 and despite Elyse Villani's fifty, Sydney Sixers won by 45 runs.
Perry hit 87 and Healy hit 106 off 53 balls which included 13 fours and four sixes. For Healy, it continued her magnificent run in all cricketing formats in the last one month. She hit 112 against Sri Lanka in ODIs and she broke the world record for the highest individual score in women's Twenty20 Internationals when she smashed 148* off 61 balls in Sydney against the same opponent.
Both Healy and Perry started steadily in the powerplay where they amassed 39 runs in the first six overs. Melbourne Stars bowlers failed to stem the run flow. Healy neared her fifty with two sixes off legspinner Kristen Beams and pacer Chloe Rafferty. Perry kept hitting boundaries at will and Healy notched up her fifty with a single off Erin Osborne. Perry also reached her landmark with two fours off Beams. In the death overs, at least two boundaries were hit every over, with Healy nearing her ton with a six off Rafferty.
However, Healy reached her century in grand style with four boundaries in the final over bowled by Nicola Hancock, including three consecutive fours in the last three balls. The 199-run unbeaten stand was the best stand in the history of the Women's Big Bash League for any wicket, breaking the record of 156 set by Meg Lanning and Mignon du Preez in 2016 for the Melbourne Stars against Adelaide Strikers in Melbourne. The highest stand for any wicket in women's T20Is is 227 for the second wicket by Uganda's Prosscovia Alako and Rita Musamali against Mali in Rwanda, in a match which Uganda won by a record margin of 304 runs by dismissing Mali for 10.
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Elyse Vilani was the only player to put up a fight as she notched up a fifty but she found no support from the other batters. Sarah Aley took two wickets as the Sydney Sixers won the match and gave Perry a perfect birthday gift. "I told Midge I wanted a cheeky single and she told me to get lost. It was good fun out there today. Pez (Perry) batted beautifully and I'm grateful that she gave me the opportunity to get a ton. I'm enjoying my cricket at the moment. I'm fairly relaxed and in a really enjoyable space at the moment. Hopefully that can continue," Healy said to the broadcaster Channel 7.
