Records tumble in WBBL game

New WBBL individual and team batting records have been set in the Sydney Sixers' 86-run win over Melbourne Stars at North Sydney Oval.

A spectator is treated after being hit by a ball

A spectator is hurt by a ball during the Sixers innings on the first day of the WBBL season. (AAP)

WBBL records have tumbled and a young fan struck and injured by the match ball was taken to hospital, as Sydney Sixers scored an 86-run win over Melbourne Stars in Sydney.

Ashleigh Gardner belted a competition-high 114 of 52 balls while Ellyse Perry finished unbeaten on 91 from 49, as the Sixers scored a league record 4-242 at North Sydney Oval.

They eclipsed the previous best score of 6-200 set by neighbours Sydney Thunder in their 45-run win over Melbourne Renegades at the same venue a few hours earlier.

Gardner also scored the quickest WWBL 50 off 22 balls, which was later equalled by the Stars' Lizelle Lee.

Hard-hitting Lee, who scored an ODI century on the same ground for South Africa against Australia last season, scored 64 off 36 balls but lacked support and the Stars finished at 7-156.

The match aggregate of 398 runs easily exceeded the previous best for a WBBL game

Australian World Cup representative Gardner struck 10 sixes and nine fours in a breathtaking display of clean hitting.

At one stage she'd scored 60 and Perry just nine, despite the latter coming in before her.

"She did actually have a joke with me saying that she was my runner out there because I probably did hog the strike a little bit," Gardner said.

"She was just trying to get me on strike and hitting to my strengths and she did an awesome job as well.

"It did help that they bowled into my arc probably more times or not.

Perry described Gardner's innings as sensational.

"Not just because of her raw power and the way she found the boundary but her temperament as well," Perry said.

"She picked the right balls, she didn't lose her shape at all and she was in the zone."

A young boy in the crowd of 3,914 was taken to hospital by ambulance after being struck on the head by the ball from a Perry six.

"I caught sight of it when it landed and It hit the concrete and it kicked up and it him straight in the face," Perry said.

"It's coming pretty hard and it''s a hard ball so my immediate reaction was to go and make sure he was ok.

"I was really concerned because it hit him pretty hard.

"'He seemed like a little tough cookie and his parents and all the medical staff were around him looking after him but obviously it's never nice to see."

The Stars chase was hampered by their inability to support Lee, who smashed eight fours and four sixes.

"I let the team down a little bit because I didn't bat through and I think if we would have got really close if I did," Lee said.

Adding to a record opening day of WBBL03, Adelaide Strikers scored a team record 3-183 in their 45-run win over Hobart Hurricanes in Glenelg.


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Source: AAP



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