The Sydney Thunder have won their second Women’s Big Bash title, easily chasing down the meagre 87-run target set for them by the Melbourne Stars.
Having finished on top of the table and coasted through their semi-final against the Scorchers, the Stars looked ready to break through for their first title on Saturday night.
Things started well, winning the bat flip and deciding to set a target, but it was the last time the Thunder were behind the game.
The Stars were lucky to even reach 9-86 in their innings, as the Thunder dropped a number of chances in the field, but opening bowlers Shabnim Ismail (2-12) and Sammy-Jo Johnson (2-11) still managed to tear through the top order and the Stars never recovered.
It took the Thunder less than 14 overs to cruise to the target and claim their first title since the inaugural 2015/16 season.
The only Thunder player who was with the team on that day in 2016, Rachael Haynes, seemed the only Sydney player who could hold a catch in the first innings.
Stars skipper Meg Lanning was dropped by Tammy Beaumont at backward point off the last ball of the first over by Ismail, as the Stars opener managed just three runs in the first two overs.
Villani chipped a catch to Haynes at cover for the first of her four catches to start the third, and Johnson missed a much harder diving chance to get rid of Lanning on the boundary at the end of the over.
South African veteran Mignon du Preez tried to steady the ship with Lanning, but they only added 17 together when Johnson trapped her LBW, and two balls later the Australian captain nicked off to Ismail for 13 to start the seventh over.
That united all-rounders Nat Sciver and Annabel Sutherland — the pair that won the Stars their semi-final — but they were unable to repeat their effort from the qualifier.
Ismail dropped Sutherland at long-on in the 10th over, but as she did earlier in the match, Haynes made up for it by snaffling a sharp chance at cover to remove Sciver off the next delivery by Sam Bates (1-18).
Big-hitting all-rounder Alana King came and went for a two-ball duck, and Sutherland tried to mount a counter-attack against Lauren Smith (1-18).
She started the 13th over with a six and a four but bunted the third ball to mid-on, where Haynes’s safe hands were waiting once again.
Johnson nabbed her second wicket when she removed former Thunder champion Erin Osborne in the 16th over, and Tess Flintoff followed soon after.
The innings ended with Nicole Faltum run out off the last ball, leaving Katherine Brunt’s unbeaten 22 off 27 as the highest score in a disappointing outing.
The Thunder’s run chase was never in doubt, captain Haynes (21* off 17) and Heather Knight (26* off 19) powering the team to 3-87 in 13.4 overs, giving their side a comfortable victory.
