Thunder Women Chase Down Heat with 20 Balls to Spare

Sydney Thunder Women beat Brisbane Heat Women by six wickets on Sunday, with 20 balls of their innings still to spare. The result came in Match 6 of the Women's Big Bash League, Australia's top women's Twenty20 competition, played at Drummoyne Oval in Sydney.

A Twenty20 match gives each side up to 20 overs, which is 120 balls. Brisbane Heat won the toss and chose to bat first. They made 178 for 5 from their full 20 overs, with five wickets lost across the innings.

The Thunder's reply was steady rather than rushed. They needed 179 to win and reached it with four wickets down, passing the target in 16.4 overs. Heather Knight finished unbeaten on 54 from 29 balls, and the margin was six wickets with 20 balls remaining. Phoebe Litchfield captained the Thunder side.

Cricket Australia described the successful chase as a record total at the ground. The match was played on the same ground as the Thunder's other home games this season, and it forms part of the Weber WBBL|12 season.

For casual fans, the key number is the 20 balls left over. Chasing a target in a T20 means keeping pace with the required run rate, the average number of runs needed per over. Once a side gets ahead of that pace, the pressure shifts to the other team, and the chasing batters can play with more freedom. Knight's innings was the sort that keeps the required rate under control while wickets are still in hand.

Brisbane's total was a strong one on a short boundary-friendly ground, so the Heat will look back on a score that was good enough to test most sides. Both teams now move on to their next fixtures. The full scorecard is available on the BBC Sport website.