Caoimhe Bray's hat-trick keeps Sydney Thunder winless

Seamer Bray finished with four wickets after Dunkley's 43 helped Sixers to 142

AAP

15-Nov-2025 • 4 hrs ago

Sydney Sixers 142 for 9 (Dunkley 43, Ismail 3-27, Voll 2-25) beat Sydney Thunder 118 for 8 (Finn 49*, Bray 4-15, Brown 2-18) by 24 runs

Sydney Sixers rising star Caoimhe Bray needed to be told she'd taken a hat-trick as the 16-year-old added another WBBL highlight in a thumping derby defeat of Sydney Thunder.

Bray took a wicket on the last ball of her second over and the first two of her next over in Sydney on Saturday, the third thanks to a fantastic diving catch at point from Erin Burns. The excitement of that wicket may have been to blame for Bray and her team-mates' poor maths, who were all shocked to hear of the feat when the ground announcer informed them over the speakers.

Bray is also the Junior Matildas goalkeeper and hit the winning runs as a 15-year-old in her WBBL debut last year. She took a classic catch earlier in this tournament and on Saturday finished with 4 for 15 from her four overs and Thunder were restricted to 118 for 8 chasing Sixers' 142 for 9.

"It's pretty crazy. I didn't realise; one of those weird ones that was at the end of the over," Bray said. "I want to play sport professionally for as long as I can (but) oh yeah, it'll definitely have to come [to a decision between football and cricket].

"Women's sport is getting more and more professional. If you want to go to the highest level, you can't be doing that forever."

Maitlan Brown was also effective on a night that favoured the bowlers but Sixers will wait on scans for New Zealand allrounder Amelia Kerr, who injured her quad in the warm-up and was forced out of the game.

Sixers had Sophia Dunkley (43 off 35) and Mady Villiers (24 not out) to thank for scraping together their total, while Alyssa Healy (26 off 15) threatened to explode.

But Thunder's star-studded batting order failed to fire in reply, with 18-year-old debutant Lucy Finn (49 not out off 34 balls) valiant in a losing cause after they had slipped to 49 for 7.

Finn (1 for 27) also picked up Ashleigh Gardner's wicket but Thunder joined Brisbane Heat at three defeats in three outings.

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