Proteas women’s captain Mignon du Preez found form to hit a match-winning 65 off 57 balls as the Melbourne Stars registered their sixth win in the Women’s Big Bash League on Friday.

A remarkable 156-run partnership with captain Meg Lanning set up a 19-run victory against the Adelaide Strikers at the Junction Oval.

It was Du Preez’s fifth match for the Stars, having joined them for her first game on Boxing Day. She didn’t exactly hit the ground running, knocking up just 18 runs in her first two innings, but then she got into rhythm with 36 off 48 in a losing cause against the Renegades in the Melbourne derby.

The feisty South African, preparing for an ODI and T20 series against England and West Indies, was dropped on 48 runs and then made the Strikers pay, scoring a six to bring up her half-century, to go along with six fours.

Lanning top scored with 84 (61) including seven fours and three sixes as the Stars ran up 158.

It was a bitter-sweet day for Dane van Niekerk, who scored 16 off  12 balls (2×4, 1×6), but her Renegades team went down by 25 runs to the Sydney Sixers on Friday. The Renegades had the pressure on once the Sixers ran up 164, during which Marizanne Kapp was bowled first ball and Van Niekerk was taken for 24 off three overs. Kapp, though, conceded just 21 from her four overs as the Renegades fell short.

Both Jacques Kallis (Sydney Thunder) and Johan Botha (Sydney Sixers) have had a disappointing run post-Christmas in the Big Bash League, on the losing side in their last three matches. It was tough call for Botha against the Adelaide Strikers, though, scoring 38 off 20 in a losing cause

Compiled by Mark Salter