A last-ball free-hit four from Tabatha Saville has lifted the Adelaide Strikers to a thrilling one-wicket triumph over the Melbourne Stars in a WBBL thriller.
Needing four to win off the final delivery to chase down a 133-run target at Adelaide Oval, Saville missed a chest-high full toss from Stars skipper Kristen Beams. It it was correctly called a no-ball and had to be re-bowled as a free hit.
Saville made no mistake, slicing it over backward point for a boundary to secure a miracle victory and steer the Strikers into third position on the table.
The young Fijian, who top-scored with her unbeaten 28, helped to dig the Strikers out of a deep hole created by another teenager, Stars schoolgirl Annabel Sutherland.
The 16-year-old daughter of Cricket Australia chief James Sutherland bagged 4-20 from four overs, triggering a 4-7 collapse by the Strikers who had been cruising at 2-70.
Sutherland snared two massive scalps from her first three balls in Stars colours, enticing Australian international Tahlia McGrath to hole out to Anna Lanning at mid-off.
She than knocked over New Zealand vice-captain Sophie Devine's stumps with a superb in-swinger to give the Stars the edge before Saville's last-ditch heroics.
Earlier, openers Lizelle Lee (52) and Katie Mack (42) laid the foundation for the Stars' steady, if unimposing, 5-132.
Devine snared both openers, finishing with 2-28 from her four overs plus the run-out of Stars vice-captain Erin Osborne to ensure the Strikers wouldn't be chasing anything too formidable.
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