THEY crushed the competition leaders, now Lisa Griffith and her Perth Scorchers team-mates will be aiming to blow away the Hurricanes in a push to take top spot on the Women's Big Bash League ladder.
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On Wednesday afternoon the Scorchers climbed into fourth on the ladder as they ended the Melbourne Renegades' four-game winning streak in style with a 40-run victory.
It moved Griffith and her team-mates within two points of the lead in the Twenty20 competition. It means if they can beat the Hobart Hurricanes twice at the WACA in their weekend double-header, the Scorchers could claim top spot.
It would have Griffith on track to make another appearance in a WBBL finals series, having done so as a member of Sydney Thunder's squad in 2017-18 and 2018-19.
"To come up and win against the Renegades, who have been the most consistent team this tournament, was really pleasing," Scorchers star Beth Mooney said.
"We'll take a lot of confidence moving forward to Saturday and Sunday."
Wednesday's match against the Renegades was just the second time Griffith had played at the WACA in her WWBL career, her previous appearance being in 2019 when she lined up for the Sydney Thunder against the Perth Scorchers.
She bowled four overs in that game, finishing with 0-23.
While Griffith was unable to claim a Renegades scalp in her WACA return, she finished with 0-14 off two overs, it was still a good day.
Perth skipper Sophie Devine won the toss and elected to bat first, a decision which certainly paid off and she and fellow opener Mooney took control.
They put on the third highest partnership in WBBL history, reaching 165 before Devine eventually fell on the first ball of the 17th over.
From there the Scorchers went on to finish at 2-194 for the franchises' biggest ever WBBL score, Mooney hitting an unbeaten 101 off 63.
That effort also gave Griffith and her fellow bowlers an imposing total to defend.
Griffith was thrown the ball for the first time in the sixth over, the final over of the power play.
While her first delivery was too short and dispatched to the boundary by Courtney Webb, Griffith responded by beating the bat then striking the pads of her Renegades rival.
"Really good wrist position, she just gets nice shape into the right-hander," Griffith's former Sydney Sixers team-mate Erin Burns, who was commentating on the match, said.
She bowled four dot balls for the over, five coming from it, as the Scorchers had their rivals at 2-42 at the end of the power play.
The Bathurst all-rounder was called up again to bowl the 13th over, at which point the Renegades needed more than 14 an over to win.
Griffith conceded a pair of boundaries, but also bowled another three dot balls. It saw her finish with 0-14 off two overs.
Griffith will continue to hunt for her first WBBL wicket at the WACA this weekend.
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