Pope spins Strikers to victory against Stars

The Adelaide Strikers have beaten the Melbourne Stars on the back of a historic night for D’Arcy Short and a spin bowling masterclass.

Sundries and a length ball catapulted the start of the Strikers innings, with Matt Short (11) and Weatherald (11) taking favour with Adelaide Oval’s short square boundaries. Quick running allowed the hosts to keep the momentum, until an Adam Milne special clean bowled Short.

One Short replaced another, with D’Arcy Short (60) plucking a ball from his hip to the boundary and taking advantage of some luck. With the Strikers 1-37 at the of the powerplay, Short and Weatherald hit the accelerator, with the former reaching his hundredth six of his BBL career – a flick over wide-on.

Ollie Pope (8) walked out to make his debut after Weatherald found the fielder in the deep joining Short. The partnership was as much about power as it was temperament, as Short took control boundaries came as often as guided pushes into vacant regions. The pair saw the hosts to drinks, with a flurry of boundaries taking to score to 2-85.  

A failed ramp first ball after drinks had Pope removed from the equation, with a cagey Siddle and Stoinis slowing the momentum of the innings.  

Short brought up his 50 and 3000 career runs, as the Strikers built towards the power surge. Its activation reactivated the innings for the home team, with a 98m six from Ross awaking the crowd from its temporary slumber.

Siddle once more showed his love for Adelaide Oval, proving an expert in these conditions and shutting down the second over of the power surge. With Short out, caught astonishingly by Ben Duckett, it was up to Ross and Bazley to make the most of the dwindling overs.

Back-to-back sixes wasn’t enough for the pair to keep the momentum in the hosts’ favour, with the duo both being dismissed bowled at the depth. A final ball 4 by Overton got the score to 165. 

It was the perfect starts for the hosts, with Matt Short trapping Ben Duckett LBW in the first over and Thornton bowling a probing line. However, another breakthrough would prove difficult to come by, with Stoinis (27) and Harper (48) settling at the crease.

It wasn’t until the introduction of Boyce into the attack that a breakthrough came, with the leg-spinner going through the Stars captain first ball. Maxwell (15) came and went with a swing of the bat, his back-to-back sixes nullified by an LBW dismissal. 

The introduction of duo spinners kept the game in the Strikers favour, with Short’s reintroduction snaring the wicket of Rogers. Harper and Cartwright (4) sort to keep the total within an achievable distance, although the task was compound with their struggle to contend with the spinners.

A necessity for runs proved the downfall of Cartwright as he was deceived by a Pope wroung-un, that same necessity forced the Stars hands into activating the power surge earlier than desired. Webster lost his wicket was Overton and Thornton minimised the damage.   

The innings petered out as the Stars batters fell attempting to keep the target in arms reach. Pope was the architect, taking 3 key wickets to suffocate any hope. The Stars finished on 9-150 from the full allotment of overs.

The Strikers take on the Heat at the Gabba on Sunday 22 December.

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