Tag: Brisbane Heat v Adelaide Strikers

Two Very Different BBL Matches

A look back at yesterday and today’s BBL games and a large photo gallery.

Yesterday Brisbane Heat took on Adelaide Strikers in the BBL, and today saw Melbourne Renegades face Perth Scorchers. This post looks back at both matches.

A LAST BALL THRILLER

The fortunes of war swayed hither and thither in this game, and there were periods when each side appeared to be heading for an easy win. It ended up being a day of triumph for Nathan McSweeney of the Brisbane Heat, recently dropped from the Australian test side after three matches in which he achieved basically nothing. Bashing the ball around in a T20, even one of high standard, is a rather different exercise to fronting up to Jasprit Bumrah with the new ball in his hand in a test match, and McSweeney made the most of being in a less intimidating setting. He scored 78 not out off 49 balls, backed by another former test player, Matt Renshaw, who scored 54 off 27 balls. Nevertheless, in spite of the heroics of these two, it took Brisbane Heat until the final possible ball to secure the win, and they were seven down. Strikers efforts had a touch of Rome and Avignon 700 years ago about them – Ollie Pope scored 34 and held a catch, while his namesake Lloyd took 2-17, – but even with two Popes on side simultaneously they were unable to win in the end. Scorecard here.

A GAME OF FOUR QUARTERS

After 10 overs Perth Scorchers, having lost the bat flip and been put in, were 48–4 and seemingly already beaten. They rallied to post 143-8, a total that still looked inadequate but at least wasn’t downright risible. Cooper Connolly scored 66 for the Scorchers, and Canadian international Matthew Spoors managed 29. Other than those two only extras with exactly 10 reached double figures. Tom Rogers was the pick of the bowlers, with 3-22 from his four overs.

Melbourne Renegades made a racing start to the chase, though they lost wickets along the way. Jacob Bethell and Laurie Evans seemed to have settled things with a 50 partnership, but Bethell fell to the fourth ball of the tenth over to make it 96-4, at which point drinks were taken. With a mere 48 needed from 10.2 overs Renegades should not have been in the slightest hint of trouble, but they played some brainless cricket in the second half of their innings. They were eight down and had only one over remaining when they finally sealed. Will Sutherland, a member of the ‘not even the best in the family’ club (outranked in his case by sister Annabel, whose many achievements include a test match double century against South Africa), saw the Renegades home to a not entirely well deserved win with 15 not out in the closing stages. Scorecard here.

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My usual sign off…

WBBL10 Double Header

A look back at today’s WBBL10 double header and a large photo gallery.

There were two back to back Women’s Big Bash League games starting early this morning UK time. This post looks back at both.

THE MELBOURNE DERBY

Melbourne Renegades won this match by 15 runs – 146-6 for them, 131-9 for the Stars. The big story of the game was the performance of WBBL debutant Charis Bekker. The 20 year old leg spinner was only playing because of an injury to Sophie Molineux, but I suspect that her place is now secure. She recorded figures of 4-0-9-1, quite astonishingly economical in this tournament – and that wicket was the key one of Meg Lanning. Bekker was correctly named Player of the Match for this performance. Alice Capsey for the Renegades played the innings of the contest, a blistering 33 (15) that gave her side a much needed injection of pace. Naomi Stalenberg (26 not out off 17) and Nicole Faltum (29 off 23) helped to ensure that the momentum provided by Capsey wasn’t entirely dissipated. For the Stars the only batters who came close to doing the needful were Deepti Sharma (23 off 20) and Marizanne Kapp (16 off eight). Kapp was also the best of the Stars bowlers with 2-22 from her four overs. Scorecard here.

HEAT v STRIKERS

This was a real rarity – a WBBL game at The Gabba (Brisbane Heat are normally confined to Allan Border Field for home matches). Adelaide Strikers won the toss and put Brisbane Heat in to bat. Indian star Jemimah Rodrigues hit 61 off 40 balls, backed up by Grace Harris (33 off 22 balls), Jess Jonassen (32 off 21 balls) and Nadine de Klerk (23 not out off 10 balls at the death). With these key contributions Brisbane Heat tallied 175-6 from their 20 overs.

Strikers made a disastrous start to the chase, being 15-3 with all of their top three (Katie Mack, Smriti Mandhana and Laura Wolvaardt) out for single figure scores. Shikha Pandey, Charli Knott and Nicola Hancock had a wicket a piece. Tahlia McGrath and Bridget Patterson stopped the collapse, but scoring remained slow. McGrath suffered a credulity testing dismissal – medium pacer Nadine de Klerk bowled a wide, and Georgia Redmayne pulled off a spectacular stumping. That was 54-4 after 9.4 overs, so 122 needed off 10.2 overs – and cricinfo’s Win Predictor had Heat on 95%.

Madeline Penna joined Patterson, and the pair fared well, though not quite as well as they needed to. With five overs to go Strikers were up to 105-4, 71 short of victory, meaning that the fifth wicket stand was worth 51 in 5.2 overs. The pendulum swung one way and then another through overs 16, 17 and 18. By the end of the 18th Penna and Patterson were still together, and they needed 35 off the last two overs.

The 19th over, often crucial in chases of an magnitude, yielded 16 of those runs. The meant that Strikers needed 19 off the final over. As well as having plenty to defend Heat had one further advantage – the experienced Indian Shikha Pandey was available to bowl that over. With two balls to go Strikers needed 11 to pull off a spectacular heist. Pandey kept her nerve and bowled two excellent deliveries, from each of which a single accrued meaning that Heat were home by eight runs. For the record Patterson ended up with 61 not out off 47 balls, and Penna who was chiefly responsible for keeping the match alive until deep in the final over had 59 not out off just 30 balls. Rodrigues, whose 61 off 40 had helped Heat to what proved to be a winning total benefitted from her team’s success and was named Player of the Match.

This result leaves Strikers cut adrift at the foot of the table, with just two points from five games. Heat have played a game more and are one of five teams to have amassed six points, while Melbourne Stars and Hobart Hurricanes each have four points from five games. With there being only ten games in the group stage Strikers are in definite jeopardy. Scorecard here.

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