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Match Report:

Scorecard

Stars fight to earn first win for season

The Stars dug deep to defeat the Scorchers for their first win of the WBBL|03 season

Melbourne Stars have ended their winless start to the Rebel WBBL season with an impressive 12-run victory over the Perth Scorchers at the WACA.

Another fast-scoring half-century from Elyse Villani seemed to have the Scorchers on track to reprise their nine-wicket win against the same opponents 24 hours earlier.

However, some fine late-innings bowling from the Stars restricted the home side to 4-137, in response to the Stars' challenging tally of 6-149.

Opener Villani followed up her 84 on Tuesday with a boundary-laden knock of 72 from 44 balls to put her side in sight of victory.

So quick was Villani's scoring that fellow opener Nicole Bolton and No.3 Natalie Sciver contributed just nine runs each by the time the team's second wicket fell with the score on 98.

Match highlights: Dogged Stars shut down Scorchers

But Villani's dismissal saw the wheels fall off the Scorchers, who required 36 from the final four overs.

Earlier, the Stars posted a strong total in spite of a top-score of just 25 from Georgia Elwiss, as four batters passed 20.

The Stars fought back after losing crucial wickets throughout their innings to post 6-146, and their bowlers rose to the occasion, tightening the clamps on the Scorchers' batters to restrict them to 4-137 in reply.

They recovered well after losing yesterday's half-century star Lee for just nine, while Lanning (19) and du Preez (23) both made starts, but were unable to go on with them.

Elwiss (25) was just upping the ante when she was run out at the non-striker's end by Heather Graham, whose quick thinking helped her make the best of the situation after she dropped Katie Mack off her own bowling.

Mack (20 off 17) made another handy cameo, hitting a six and two fours off the one Natalie Sciver over before the Scorchers bowler got her own back, bowling Mack as she looked to smash another to theropes

Katherine Brunt bolwed three overs without break at the top of the innings to claim 2-13, before she left the field with an injury concern. She did not return to the field and did not bat for the Scorchers.

Despite the defeat, the Scorchers (three wins and two losses) will have the opportunity to move equal with the ladder-leading Sydney Sixers on Saturday in a glamour match-up at Lilac Hill.

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