Ellyse Perry takes WBBL by storm with another huge score

Ellyse Perry has done it again for the Sydney Sixers, scoring an unbeaten 74 and taking two wickets in a victory over the Sydney Thunder.

The day after scoring her first WBBL century, Perry opened the batting with aplomb after the Sixers made 4-168 after sending themselves into bat on Saturday.

The 28-year-old opened the innings with two boundaries before she and Alyssa Healy were bogged down, leaving the Sixers on a below-par 0-17 after four overs.

It got worse when Healy and Ash Gardiner fell in consecutive balls in the seventh over, but Perry combined with Erin Burns to lift the Sixers to a competitive total.

While Burns was dismissed on 44 runs (six fours, two sixes), Perry never stopped as she finished on 74 (eight fours, two sixes) from 66 balls.

The allrounder wasn’t done there, either, as she removed the dangerous Thunder captain Alex Blackwell for six runs and stopped Stafanie Taylor in her tracks on 13 runs.

The Sixers’ balanced bowling effort was boosted by two run outs for a comfortable 36-run victory.

Perry has now scored 234 runs – her last 176 without being dismissed – in three WBBL matches after returning from Australia’s women’s World T20 triumph.

In other WBBL results on Saturday, the Melbourne Stars (Osborne 67, du Preez 57no) defeated the Hobart Hurricanes (Knight 82no) by five wickets.

The Brisbane Heat held the Perth Scorchers to 8-103 and won in a canter, reaching 3-104 in just 12.5 overs.

The Melbourne Renegades defeated the Adelaide Strikers by six wickets in a tight contest that went down to the last ball.

Perry’s second monster innings in two days

Ellyse Perry sent cricket fans into a frenzy on Friday night after hitting a dominant first WBBL century – an unbeaten 59-ball ton to lift the Sydney Sixers over the Perth Scorchers.

A quiet night with the ball made way for the bat as the Australian allrounder led the Sixers to a six-wicket win with eight balls to spare at North Sydney Oval.

In a rematch of last year’s WBBL decider, Perth won the toss and elected to bat.

England international wicketkeeper Amy Jones top-scored for the Schorchers with a 29-ball 57 but her only help came from fellow top-order batters Elyse Villani (32 off 25) and Nicole Bolton (40 off 33).

Six players were out for for single-figure scores and Perth reached a below-par 9-167 from their 20 overs.

Perry bowled just one over in the innings and made up for lost time when she put the foot down in reply.

The 28-year-old recorded 14 fours and two sixes to almost single-handedly lead Sydney home.

Ash Gardiner (26 off 22) and South African Dane van Niekerk (32 off 22) were the only teammates to assist her but they made sure to take a back seat.

Perry held all Scorchers bowlers accountable, including hitting Emma King for a six and two boundaries in the 10th over.

But her crowning moment was the final ball of the night – a four to bring up her century and the win.

The Sixers finished on 4-171, Perry’s 102 runs accounting for almost 60 per cent of the total and earning plenty of praise: