Ellyse Perry starred with bat and ball to guide the NSW Breakers to a 15-run win over Queensland in their Women's National Cricket League game at North Sydney Oval on Saturday.
The home side appeared in serious trouble when it sank to 5-86 in the 26th over before captain Lisa Sthalekar (37) and Perry mounted a comeback to help steer NSW to 198.
The Queensland bowlers, led by Kirsten Pike (4-15), were able to tie the batters down for long periods of time leading to several NSW players getting out attempting to play big shots.
Perry controlled the latter half of the innings, exploding during the batting power play at the end of the innings before eventually being dismissed for 66.
She combined with Sarah Andrews (22) for a crucial 54-run ninth-wicket stand.
Fresh from her batting exploits, Perry took the early wicket of the Fire's Louise Broadfoot, but Mel Bulow (56) and Lyndal Dailey (41) steadied the ship to put the Fire on course for victory.
With the Queensland score at 1-98 in the 30th over, NSW turned to Sarah Coyte with immediate success. Playing her first WNCL match, Coyte removed both Dailey and Bulow within two overs of each other.
Perry then ran out Rebecca Hollindale with a direct hit before rattling the stumps of Jude Coleman and Jessica Jonassen to give the Breakers a slight edge.
With Australian and Queensland captain Jodie Fields at the crease with Delissa Kimmince, the Fire was still a chance however Coyte's reintroduction had the desired effect.
She first removed Fields with the second ball of the final over, then on the last ball of the match bowled Kimmince to finish with the impressive debut figures of 4-25.
Queensland finished on 9-183.
Perry was named player of the match for her double of 66 and 3-41.
"I felt comfortable going in to bat at 5-86. There wasn't any pressure on me to score runs. We just had to start again and consolidate. I'm just glad I was able to build an innings and we were able to get up to a better score," said Perry.
"Queensland put up a fantastic fight today. We had a really good start to our innings and they did a great job to peg us back. Kirsten Pike bowled really well and it was a really challenging game."
NSW and Queensland play the second match in the WNCL double-header on Sunday at North Sydney Oval from 10am.