Satterthwaite's six part of rapid evolution

"I'm obviously not a huge hitter of the ball, and I'm not really known for hitting sixes," grins Amy Satterthwaite.

It was a weird day for the New Zealander allrounder. Earlier she's run out, she left the field, takes off her gloves and pads in the dugout, before the umpires decided she was not out. This looked like it would be the most remarkable thing about her innings as the Renegades struggled with the chase: until they needed a last ball a six for the Super Over.

Sixes are quickly becoming a big deal in women's cricket. Alex Blackwell has played 144 ODIs since her debut 15 years ago, in that time she has hit eight sixes. In the World Cup semi-final last year she smacked three, bouncing a couple off the Derby press box. Women's cricket is changing.

At the forefront of this is Lizelle Lee, the South African six machine. She has hit 17 sixes this season, it's already the record in this tournament, and there are still games to go. The Stars coach David Hemp (the former Glamorgan and Bermuda player) sees the change down to a few reasons. "They are now backing themselves to have a go at it. They are practising it more, in the past that hasn't necessarily been done. Lots of people now practice the range hitting, so they see how far they can clear. At the international level it happens all the time, and now it's filtering down the domestic game. Before they were doing a gym session a week, and now it's two or three. And they are getting better bats".

Think of a domestic woman playing cricket even five years ago. She would have to fit the gym around her work life and the few nets sessions she could get. There was no range hitting out in the middle. If she was lucky enough to get a sponsored bat, she didn't get an unlimited number.

There is no doubt that someone like Lee was born a hitter, but she gets trained to hold her shape, and is encouraged to clear the rope. In the third over she launches Sophie Molineux over long-on for six, well beyond the men's boundary. A few overs later she smacks Molly Strano even further.

Lee is big and strong, she looks like a power hitter, but she's not hitting all the sixes on her own. Alana King is not big; she's tiny. And at the start of her innings, while she shows a lot of energy, she struggles to hit the ball off the square. She gets a cut shot four from Satterthwaite, which gets her going. "I usually get the pace of the wicket first, see how the bowlers are going. Then I know I can back myself, and then it's either six or out for me, pretty much," she says

Next ball she slams the ball over the rope. "I'm not really a punch through covers kind of girl. So I give it a good swing."

Last year no one who faced over 20 balls had a strike rate of over 135, this year seven do. Nicola Carey is up at 166. Beth Mooney has averaged 48 and still strikes at 143. According to cricket statistician John Leather, the tournament run rate has gone from 6.29 in the first tournament up to 6.84 this year. The boundary percentage up from 43% to 49.9%. The balls per boundary down from 9.7 to 7.9.

But the big one is sixes, in the first tournament the women hit a six every 121 balls, less than once an innings. Now it's down to 62. They've essentially doubled their sixes.

Renegades' Claire Koski hits a six over long-on from Erin Osborne. It's such a smooth swing of the bat; she's so still. Despite the ball being well outside off stump, she doesn't seem to reach, but still easily clears long-on's head. Many of the women's sixes come in that traditional way, but not all of them.

Earlier this season Harmanpreet Kaur - the Harmonster - was playing of Sydney Thunder and had only scored one from her first eleven balls. Then she muscles a Dane van Niekerk legspinner over long-on. But a few overs later she does something extraordinary. Ashleigh Gardner is bowling her offspin and Kaur runs down at her. Gardner sees her and goes wide, Kaur just throws her hands through the ball and hits it over cover for six. Not that long ago that a women's six was a big deal, now they are hitting them over cover, from spin.

In the ninth over, Satterthwaite, the New Zealand import for the Renegades is batting, and she faces a wide floated ball she sweeps hard forward of square to the rope. It's her second ball; she will face 24 more balls and not hit a single boundary. The next ball she faced was the one she needed a six. In Satterthwaite's mind was a previous game: "I had a chance against the Hurricanes, and missed out."

But according to Leather's numbers, Satterthwaite had only hit four sixes from her previous 851 WBBL balls before the final ball of Renegades' innings today.

This time Satterthwaite swings hard against English international Georgia Elwiss' seam bowling. Satterthwaite gets her leg out the way well and swings hard from somewhere near the middle. They both watch it from the middle of the pitch, Elwiss has her hand over her mouth, then she closes her eyes, Satterthwaite gives the smallest fist pump.

In the Super Over Satterthwaite doesn't come out to hit straight away. A few years ago the woman who hoicked a six to grab a Super Over would be sent out there again, but no one thinks she's the Renegade's best hitter. When she finally gets out in the Super Over, she makes a diamond duck (one of two in the over). But in just going out there she makes the world record as probably the first player to walk out to bat three separate times in a T20 match.

The Renegades don't win the Super Over, only one boundary's hit, despite both teams making ten runs and swinging very hard. But then again, the women's game is not really known for hitting sixes.