“I was a bit nervous. After the wickets fell, I was like, I’m the one who’s actually there to hit the big one, so tell myself, I’ve got to stay till the end, no matter what’s on the board. To get a competitive total,” he said. “I got those two no-balls, I finally got some luck. So it was good for me to finally take advantage of that.
“I will rank. [the innings] Very high, probably in the top five. For me to stay until the end and get 140-something on the board for the defense, I rate it very high.”
Dutton, who previously played for the Perth Scorchers and Brisbane Heat, finished the WBBL campaign with 362 runs at 27.84 and a strike rate of 114.19. He scored two half-centuries batting first in the tournament, but was then moved to No. 4 as part of a team reshuffle heading into the latter stages of the regular season.
“It’s never easy coming into a new team and she was definitely pretty quiet at the beginning – I would be exactly – but she’s definitely come out of her shell,” McGrath said. “She’s been a big part of our team. She told me at the ten-over mark today how nervous she was – cool, calm, collected World Boss Nervous! – so she stepped up today and surprised us. It was exciting.
“When the pressure’s on, you want your big guys to step up and that’s what he did today. You can’t ask for more than that. He just ended the whole season for us. It was tough. When we asked him to go. From opening to four for the team but, wow, he turned it around.”