The Melbourne Renegades' bid to snap their WBBL finals drought has started in disappointing fashion with a six-wicket loss to the Sydney Thunder.
Exciting speedster Tayla Vlaeminck snared four wickets on debut but there was little else for the hosts to celebrate at Melbourne's Junction Oval on Sunday.
The Renegades flopped with the bat, losing eight wickets and setting a target of just 99, which the Thunder chased down with 19 balls to spare.
Fresh from playing in Australia's T20 World Cup final triumph, opener Sophie Molineux (one) holed out to mid-off in the first over.
Claire Koski (three) and Jess Cameron (seven) also fell cheaply, top-scorer Erica Kershaw (24) was bowled attempting to slog a Belinda Vakarewa delivery and Emma Inglis (11) fell to a superb Nicola Carey caught-and-bowled dismissal.
Missing England international Danni Wyatt, who was unavailable after playing in the T20 World Cup, the Renegades lacked composure with the bat against a well-drilled Thunder attack led by pacer Rene Farrell (3-17).
Skipper Amy Satterthwaite conceded the Renegades' batting clearly remained an issue.
"We addressed it looking back at last season, that it let us down in patches," she said.
"At times we were really good but it wasn't consistent enough and power plays were probably something we needed to address.
"We tried to resurrect that today with a couple of different things but it didn't come off. It's something that we need to keep looking at and keep trying to improve if we want to be successful in this tournament."
The breakout performance of WBBL debutant Vlaeminck, who made her first appearance for Australia during the World Cup in the Caribbean, will be some comfort for the Renegades.
The 20-year-old dismissed Rachel Priest (nine) in her first over and displayed impressive speed before finishing with figures of 4-30.
Rachael Haynes (27) and Naomi Stalenberg (26) led the way with the bat for the Thunder in the absence of unavailable Indian superstar Harmanpreet Kaur.
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