‘Cooked’ Healy powers Sixers’ huge chase

Alyssa Healy reckons she didn’t want to face the final ball but there were no surprises when the Sydney Sixers’ gun sent it cannoning to the cover boundary to seal a crucial WBBL win over Perth.

Healy (107 off 64) notched a record-extending fifth WBBL century on Sunday but needed a few more than that to ensure their mighty chase of the Scorchers’ 4-176 at Junction Oval came off.

Healy was battling on one off 10 balls but the new Australian vice-captain found her groove alongside Ellyse Perry in a 154-run stand that powered the Sixers to within 20 of the target with two overs to bowl.

After going for 17 runs off her previous over, Scorchers captain Sophie Devine had Perry (48 off 40) dismissed and Healy dropped in a fine 19th over that left the Sixers still needing 14.

Healy watched from the other end as Ash Gardner hit the first two deliveries for six.

But Gardner was bowled from the next ball and Piepa Cleary was on a hat-trick after claiming Erin Burns next ball.

Nicole Bolton chipped that delivery just short of deep midwicket for a single and then, with one to win off the final delivery, Healy gave herself room and calmly dispatched the winning runs to the cover boundary, letting out a boisterous cry in the process.

“I’m absolutely cooked, but just (feeling) more pride than anything,” Healy said.

“To win a game like that against a really good side.

“I didn’t want to face that last ball, that’s for sure.”

No other player has scored more than three WBBL hundreds, Healy’s century coming off 62 balls and featuring a one-handed six over mid-off.

Victory keeps the Sixers on top of the ladder. The Scorchers, who beat them last week, could have jumped above them from fourth with victory.

Earlier, Perth’s Beth Mooney (75no off 51) and Marizanne Kapp (68 off 37) put on 97 off 58 balls to continue their own stellar form.

Their stand came a day after combining for a devastating 123-run partnership in just 56 deliveries, Mooney also scoring an unbeaten 99 against the same opponents last week.

“When a player like Healy gets going she’s bloody hard to stop,” Devine said, saving praise for her top-order teammate Mooney.

“It’d be nice if she passed on some (form) to me.

“She’s such a class player the way she manipulates the field .. she’s a freak as well.

“To be brutally honest I suck at the moment … that’s cricket sometimes, hopefully the cricket gods shine down on me soon because it’s pretty tough to be fair.”