Brisbane heat 169 for 8 (Redmayne 44, L Harris 31) won Melbourne Renegades 141 for 9 (Matthews 35, Parsons 3-22) by 28 runs
The 21-year-old took 3 for 22 in four overs to turn the game on its head after Renegades started fast in pursuit of the Heat’s 169 for 8 at Allan Border Field.
The victory marked the first time in WBBL history that the Heat began a season with back-to-back wins.
Things looked up for Parsons when all-rounder Deandra Dottin was controversially awarded lbw after the ball deflected off her glove and landed on the pad. Dottin called for a review but there was no DRS in this game, although 33 of the 43 WBBL games this season will feature the review system.
The Renegades crumbled as opener Courtney Webb ran out and captain Sophie Molineux fell in the 10th over as the visitors fell to 71 for 5 after being 51 for 0.
Heat tightened the screws with seamer Shikha Pandey continuing her excellent start to the season to restrict Renegades despite a quickfire 38 from Naomi Stalenberg.
Parsons suffered a shoulder injury last year and missed the entire WBBL season after being Queensland’s leading wicket-taker in the WNCL.
His talent is such that he recently won Australia’s A team against India ahead of what looks set to be a fruitful career.
She said learning from former Heat player and New Zealand T20 World Cup star Amelia Kerr had helped her with her craft.
“Learning from Amelia over the last three years has been really special because she is the best to do it,” Parsons told AAP. “Our bowling coach at the Heat is Cameron Boyce and he’s incredible at what he does and it’s been great to study his brain.
“It was a long countdown to the Big Bash but I got here in the end and it was very special to play my debut match at Allan Border Field.”
Winfield-Hill rotated the strike while punishing anything loose. An elegant reverse sweep was fired towards Georgia Wareham’s fence before the Englishwoman was caught well at mid-wicket.
Charli Knott, player of the match against Adelaide Strikers in the season opener, holed out for just one before Dottin edged out Redmayne and the hosts fell to 86 for 4.
Brave Laura Harris (31 off 16) upped the ante as only she can with a quick innings during the power surge that included a cut-off for six.
Heat captain Jess Jonassen finished unbeaten with 25 to lead the Heat to a competitive total.
