Women’s Big Bash League 2019, Standout player, biggest takeaway, best team – Sophie Devine, Brisbane Heat, and the Emily Smith ban

Five weeks into the WBBL 2019, the business end beckons. There were plenty of runs, a few collapses, and a lot of excitement over the last week. We look at the best moments.

Standout player – Sophie Devine

Sophie Devine has been unstoppable form. Literally. She cannot stop scoring, and Adelaide Strikers have cashed in on her good form – they’re second in the WBBL table, just two points behind leaders Brisbane Heat with a game in hand. In her latest outing, against Sydney Thunder, Devine hammered an unbeaten 63 – it was her third straight unbeaten half-century, and even more remarkably, it was her fifth in a row. Overall, it was her sixth this season, and she is now just 58 runs behind top-scorer Beth Mooney – all she needs now is another half-century to catch up. Don’t bet against her getting it too.

Standout team – Brisbane Heat

Brisbane Heat have set the standards this WBBL season. After 11 matches, they’re atop the eight-team table with 16 points, with eight wins and just the three losses. In their last outing, they beat Melbourne Renegades by six runs – it was the manner of the victory that stood out. It wasn’t an easy stroll, but the team showed the gumption to fight for the points. The Renegades needed 15 off the last over, and such was the momentum, only a brave man would have bet against the Renegades getting through that chase. However, Heat went on to take three wickets from the last four balls of the match to secure their victory, and get another two points in the bag.

Room for improvement – Emily Smith incident

The situation surrounding Emily Smith is unfortunate. She was banned by Cricket Australia for a one-year period – in effect for three months – after she was found to breach the Anti-Corruption Code. The Hobart Hurricanes wicketkeeper had unwittingly posted a video on Instagram of the happenings in the Hobart dressing room – within the restricted Player and Match Official Area (PMOA) in which she inadvertently leaked the team news. Though nine months of the ban is suspended, she will miss the rest of the BBL. Experts have since called for more to be done towards educate players on the importance of toeing the line when it comes to these issues.

Standout quote – “It took Noffers to tell me, in no uncertain terms, to pull my head in and have a think about how Jess Jonassen plays.”

–          Jess Jonaseen on the importance of staying true to her style of playing.