Melbourne Stars Women suffered another heartbreaking defeat as they lost to Hobart Hurricanes in the 20th match of the Women's Big Bash League 2023 (WBBL) on Friday, November 2. Meg Lanning-side suffered a six-wicket defeat in a last-over thriller at Hobart and were further threatened when a bird tried to attack their players.
In one of the most crazy scenes in the tournament, a plover bird almost took down Melbourne Stars batter Sophie Reid during the game. The incident briefly halted the game as the players from both sides tried to take cover. No player was harmed as Sophie managed to duck when a bird took a scary dive at her.
The incident happened during the second innings when Melbourne Stars were defending a fighting total at Hobart's Bellerive Oval. Nicole Faltum, the Stars wicketkeeper batter, spotted a bird and also warned her teammates to look out for it. Reid was taken by surprise when a bird attacked her from behind and knocked her cap in the process. Sophie Reid was shocked but was all smiles as she recovered to take the field.
Meanwhile, Sophie was dismissed on a duck when the Melbourne side batted first in their sixth game of the season. Team captain and star batter Meg Lanning played a sensational knock of 75 runs off 50 balls but didn't get much support from her teammates. Hobart's star pacer Shabnim Ismail took three wickets and Molly Strano picked two to restrict the Stars to 142 runs in 20 overs.
While chasing a tough total, the young pace all-rounder Annabel Sutherland gave the Melbourne side a promising start with two wickets. But the skipper Elyse Villani and Nicola Carey kept Hobart ahead in the chase with brilliant scores of 41 runs each. Naomi Stalenberg finished the game in the last over by smashing 33* off just 25 as Hobart registered a win with four balls remaining.
