Gardner set for her 150th WBBL match as the unbeaten Sixers face the Renegades at Junction Oval

Ashleigh Gardner will play her 150th Women's Big Bash League match for the Sydney Sixers on Thursday night, with the unbeaten visitors meeting a Melbourne Renegades side fresh from a last-ball win of its own

The Sixers named an unchanged 13 on Wednesday for the trip to Junction Oval, where Gardner will captain a side that has won each of its first four matches. She has appeared in every one of the club's 150 games since the competition began, and no player has reached the mark with the Sixers before.

The Renegades are unchanged too. They sit sixth on four points after a 2-2 start and will play their first night match of the season at the ground, with Sophie Molineux leading them.

Both sides arrive from finishes settled on the final delivery, a pattern that has run through the opening fortnight of the tournament.

A milestone in magenta

Gardner, 29, has worn only Sixers magenta since WBBL01, and Thursday's match makes her the first player to reach 150 appearances for the club.

Ellyse Perry is one game behind her. Perry reaches the same mark on Sunday at North Sydney Oval, where the Sixers host the Renegades again at 11am in the club's Community Round.

It is not the only such landmark of the season. Hobart Hurricanes captain Nicola Carey played her own 150th WBBL match last week.

Gardner's run of form

Gardner has made 222 runs and taken six wickets across her past three matches, a stretch that has carried much of the Sixers' start.

She scored 124 from 60 balls against the Hurricanes at Drummoyne Oval, the second century of her WBBL career, and followed it with 3-23.

Against the Melbourne Stars she made 34 and took 1-37. Against the Sydney Thunder she finished 64 not out and took 2-37.

The Sixers hold eight points from four matches at a net run rate of 1.316, second only to the Perth Scorchers.

A habit of last-ball finishes

Two of the four final-ball finishes in the season's first 17 completed matches have involved the Sixers.

Sarah Coyte hit a boundary from the last delivery to beat the Brisbane Heat at Allan Border Field, then defended eight runs in the final over to see off the Stars by a single run.

"Doing it last ball with the bat and now with the ball gives us great confidence," said Lauren Cheatle.

Renegades arrive from their own thriller

The Renegades beat the Hurricanes by four wickets in Hobart last week in a finish decided by a no-ball.

Hobart made 154 for 7, Carey top-scoring with 62 from 43 balls. Hayley Matthews replied with 59 from 44, striking eight boundaries, and Courtney Webb made 29 from 25.

Molineux returned 4-22, taking her past 100 WBBL wickets.

With the scores level and one ball left, Deandra Dottin missed the delivery, but wicketkeeper Lizelle Lee gathered it in front of the stumps. The umpires called a no-ball, and the winning run with it, after Hobart had already been held to two fielders outside the circle for the last three deliveries for a slow over rate.

Unchanged on both sides

The Sixers squad is Gardner, Caoimhe Bray, Erin Burns, Alice Capsey, Cheatle, Coyte, Sophia Dunkley, Amelia Kerr, Grace Lyons, Frankie Nicklin, Perry, Eva Ragg and Courtney Sippel. Maddy Darke is out injured, with Maitlan Brown and Elsa Hunter omitted.

The Renegades name Molineux, Dottin, Nicole Faltum, Tess Flintoff, Milly Illingworth, Sara Kennedy, Matthews, Olivia Porter, Chloe Tryon, Tayla Vlaeminck, Georgia Wareham, Webb and Annie Wikman, with the final XI confirmed at the toss.

Junction Oval has already drawn a record WBBL crowd this season, 1,702 for the Stars against the Hurricanes. First innings across the competition are averaging 160.1, up from 156.7 a year ago.

A fifth straight win would keep the Sixers level with Perth at the top of the table, while victory for the Renegades would lift them above the three sides tied with them on four points.