Sophie Ecclestone stars as Sydney Sixers pick up second straight win

Suzie Bates top-scored for Sixers against her old club, while Ellyse Perry made her second consecutive fifty

Mackay: Sydney Sixers 151-2, Adelaide Strikers 134-9 - Sydney Sixers win by 17 runs

Scorecard

Charlotte Edwards maintained her unbeaten start as Sydney Sixers head coach, watching her charges win comfortably against Adelaide Strikers thanks to star-turns from three of her big-name players.

Ellyse Perry made her second half century in as many games and Suzie Bates batted through the innings for 82, before Sophie Ecclestone claimed four wickets and a direct-hit runout in a fine performance from the England spinner that left Strikers well short.

Perry and Bates shared a 131-run stand after Alyssa Healy's early dismissal, misreading a slower delivery from Darcie Brown, and that partnership was only broken by the penultimate ball of the innings, when Perry – who made 58 in 44 balls – holed out to Amanda-Jade Wellington off Megan Schutt. Ashleigh Gardner then walked to the crease and hit her only ball for six.

That immediate fluency wasn't visible elsewhere in Mackay, with Perry and Bates, against her former team, never going berserk – although Australia internationals Wellington and Tahlia McGrath conceded 65 runs in their six overs – but a final total of 151 for 2 proved to be more than sufficient despite Adelaide's strong start in response.

^{Suzie Bates made 82 for Sydney Sixers (Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)}

Deandra Dottin was making her Strikers debut and offered immediate signs of her well-known capabilities, launching two of her first five balls for sixes, albeit Ecclestone might have caught her on the long-on rope. It was the left-arm spinner who made the breakthrough though, with Dottin driving Ecclestone to mid-off.

Thereafter, Katie Mack and Laura Wolvaardt took their side past the halfway mark and they were well placed at 77 for 1 when South Africa star Wolvaardt took on a poor single to Ecclestone's left hand at midwicket and was left yards short of her ground.

In the next over, McGrath drove Ecclestone to Perry at cover – as star-studded a wicket as you're likely to find in the competition. A short-lived revival between Mack and Bridget Patterson came to an end two overs later, with Mack falling three balls after Patterson had departed to Nicole Bolton's part-time off-spin.

Wickets continued to fall as the lower order chased a rising required rate that never looked likely, with Perry having saved overs from Gardner and Ecclestone for the back-end to ultimately finish as winners by 17 runs.

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