Sydney Thunder 151 for 2 (Athapaththu 80) beat Melbourne Renegades 147 for 5 (Wareham 47*) by eight wickets
Chamari Athapaththu smashed a blistering half-century after she produced a disciplined performance with the ball as Sydney Thunder comprehensively beat Melbourne Renegades at a gloomy Cricket Central ground.
Having taken 1 for 20 off four overs to help restrict Renegades, Athapaththu tore into the bowling in her 54-ball whirlwind of 80 as Thunder reached the target in the 18th over.
Athapaththu traded mostly in boundaries and none was more impressive than when she whacked offspinner Ella Hayward for a massive straight six to reach her half-century in style.
She holed out in the 14th over, but Thunder continued on their merry way to start the season with consecutive wins coming off last season's wooden spoon.
Renegades had few answers with the ball as they suffered a letdown following their thrashing of defending champions Adelaide Strikers.
With rain having fallen throughout the day in Sydney, there were fears of a washout but the match started on schedule and Thunder elected to bowl in bleak and blustery conditions.
It wasn't easy for the batters with seamer Marizanne Kapp in her season debut proving difficult to attack with the ball coming off the wicket slowly.
Opener Hayley Matthews, who has yet to get going with the bat this tournament, backed her aggressive approach against Kapp but it was fraught with danger in the tricky conditions.
She got away with a skier that landed safety in the third over before a few balls later slogging Kapp straight to cover.
Debutant quick Ebony Hoskin had a dream start after coming on in the seventh over when she had Josie Dooley caught behind with a brilliant delivery that swung late to hit the edge.
With Kapp providing her words of wisdom, the 20-year-old Hoskin showed no signs of nerves and showcased her renowned energy in an impressive debut.
Hoskin bowled just one more over in the innings as Thunder relied on Athapaththu's accurate offspin to tie Renegades down.
Renegades couldn't get going in the first half of their innings with Tammy Beaumont brilliantly run out by a direct throw from Phoebe Litchfield at cover.
They looked to Harmanpreet Kaur and Courtney Webb after their match-winning near century stand against Strikers.
Harmanpreet's fluent touch continued as she made a mockery of the conditions with two boundaries off her first three balls before Athapaththu had her caught behind after she played loosely outside off stump.
But Webb found much-needed support from Georgia Wareham in a 78-run partnership and they capitalised on increasingly ragged Thunder bowling and fielding.
Wareham superbly attacked on the leg side during the power surge and smashed three consecutive boundaries off seamer Hannah Darlington in the 15th over.
Wareham needed a boundary off the final delivery of the innings to reach a deserved half-century, but could only score a single.
Any confidence Renegades had of mustering a strong defence of the total was quickly eroded by a rampaging Athapaththu as Thunder cruised to victory amid the drizzle.
