After losing Jake Weatherald in the first over and following with couple of peaceful overs, Adelaide Strikers nurtured big scores with momentum. Matthew Short assisted by debutant Chris Lynn shared a key 95 runs partnership for the second wicket.
Short looked in great touch with the bat as he scored 84 runs in 53 balls with the help of eleven fours and two sixes. Lynn, on the other hand, scored 41 off 34 balls but was dismissed by the new Afghanistani spinner Izharulhaq Naveed.
After Lynn was dismissed, Sixers hoped for a sigh of relief but the Englishman Adam Hose had other plans who scored 40 off 21 balls on debut for Adelaide Strikers. Sixers were poor with the ball as it looked that they were not aware of the dimensions of Adelaide Oval. They kept feeding short and wide of the off stumps balls which Strikers batters easily dispatch to the boundaries.
The Strikers are on the board! #BBL12 pic.twitter.com/EXL7vZ4ssG
— KFC Big Bash League (@BBL) December 14, 2022
Another big difference was power surge. Strikers capitualuated the power surge very well, accumulating 30 runs of two overs from 13 to 15 overs. Once, Short was dismissed, Sixers hoped to make a little come back and certainly they did but the damage was already done by the top order batsmen who flourished with the bat and scored 145 at the end of the sixteenth over.
Seam Abott bagged three wickets in the final over, conceding only three runs but the score of 184 alredy looked enough on a pitch where bowlers can easily intimidate the batsmen if right line and lengths are hit.
Strikers started significantly good with the ball as the debutant Henry Thornton got two big scalps in first over, reducing the Sixers to 11 for 2. From there, the chase was getting tougher and tougher, knowing that Rashid Khan was in hunt for middle order batsmen. As he always, first he troubles the batsmen then he beats them with pace and spin.
Khan was superb with the ball, taking 3 wickets and giving only 21 runs in four overs. In his second over, he didn’t Phillipe then in his second over, he dismissed the Sixers captain Moises Henriques. The veteran Peter Siddle was well economical, executing all sorts of variations and change up deliveries from his bowling Arsenal.
However, the pick of the bowlers was Henry Thornton who took 4 wickets and conceded only 20 runs. He has the bowling action similar of his idol Brett Lee who enjoyed Thornton’s pace and bowling action from the commentry box.
The 51 runs victory will surely give a huge boost of confidence to the Adelaide Strikers who are looking a perfect team and are in for long run of the Big Bash League 2022.