In Match 5 of the BBL, Adelaide Strikers lost to Hobart Hurricanes by 11 runs, in a thrilling match.
In reply to the Hurricanes’ 174 for 5, they could manage only 163 for 9.
But don’t let that mislead you as the Adelaide Strikers have been one of the most topsy turvy teams in the tournament’s history.
After all, we are talking about a side that were the champions of the seventh edition of the Big Bash League.
When they do well, they tend to do really well and when they don’t, they tend to fizzle out very badly. They have a penchant for either finishing near the top of the table or the bottom and this makes them the most difficult team to predict.
We will try nevertheless and we will start with a little bit about this team.
A Little Background
This team as is very apparent from its name is based out of Adelaide Australia and its home ground is the Adelaide Oval.
Their current captain is Travis Head and Jason Gillespie is their coach.
Notable players include Rashid Khan, Alex Carey, Matt Renshaw, Peter Siddle, and Danny Briggs.
They also have one of the biggest groups of young players. Famous players who have represented the team in the past include such names as Shakib Al Hasan, Adil Rashid, Mahela Jayawardene, James Franklin, Kieron Pollard, and Philip Hughes.
A Brief History
The Adelaide Strikers had an off-kilter start to the Big Bash League.
They spent the first three editions languishing towards the bottom of the table but they started to come into their own from the fourth edition onwards when they reached the semi-finals for the first time.
This was thanks to players like Keiron Pollard stepping things up.
They repeated this in the fifth edition as they still missed that winning formula before slipping back in the sixth edition.
Things finally came together for them in the seventh edition and thanks to impressive performances from Rashid Khan, Travis Head, and Alex Carey, they were able to finally taste championship victory.
Things have fizzled down since then with them finishing third in the league last time out.
Future Prospects
The current squad has a similar composition to what it had when they won the championship back in the 2017-18 season.
They are relying on the same set of players. Rashid Khan and Alex Carey will once again have to play the roles of the anchors around which the rest of the squad can play with freedom and without coming under pressure.
Travis Head, Matt Renshaw and Alex Carey will have the onus on them to form the backbone of the batting line-up.
This will allow the less experienced younger players to play with more freedom.
Similarly, Rashid Khan has to step things up in the bowling department. He still remains one of the most potent spinners in the world but his consistency has reduced just a touch.
His lower-order pinch-hitting can also come in very handy while chasing down large targets which are quite common in the Big Bash League. The thing though is that these players have been delivering consistently on a regular basis and them alone continuing to perform well won’t be enough.
That is where the lesser-known players have to step things up. If at least two of them perform really well in each match, it will give the team a much better chance of emulating their BBL 07 success.
The Adelaide Strikers have enough firepower to make it into the semi-finals.
If they want to progress any further, they will have to understand that, cricket even in the T20 format, is a team game and everyone has to come together to win what is quickly becoming one of the most competitive T20 leagues around
Hobart Hurricanes 5 for 174 (Short 72) beat Adelaide Strikers 9 for 163 (Worrall 62*, Faulkner 3-21) by 11 runs
