Adelaide Strikers and the switch in the pitch
Cricket isn’t just a contest of runs, it’s a game of sounds — in an exclusive, SA Weekend sat on the bench with the Adelaide Strikers and got an education into the inner workings of the game.
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Cricket is a game of sounds; close your eyes and you’ll hear them. The unmistakeable crack that reverberates around the oval when bat hits ball; the screams when a bowler sends up an appeal; the cries of support from behind the stumps.
The sharp bursts that echo across the field as a fielder claps her encouragement. The faint scratches as a batter scrapes her shoe over the crease and the dull knocks as she whacks her bat into the pitch – two, three times – in preparation to face a ball.
All the “Nos!”. And the “Yeses!”.
The near silence that falls when a bowler steadies herself at the top of her mark. Then the cheer of the crowd after a boundary or a wicket. This is what cricket fans hear as they sit in their grandstand seats or take shade under a tree.
But there are other, less obvious sounds that can only be heard when you’re sitting on the team bench – which was where I sat with the Adelaide Strikers when they headed to Brisbane to play Perth Scorchers in a Women’s Big Bash League match three weeks ago.
On away trips, the Strikers have a 13-player squad, three coaches – Luke Williams (head), Charlotte Edwards (assistant) and Jude Coleman (assistant) – as well as the team physio (Jim Wiltshire), strength and conditioning coach (Anthony Gallomarino), media manager (Jamie Anderson) and senior operations manager, Kate Harkness.
To be able to sit on the bench alongside the team I underwent Cricket Australia’s anti-corruption training and had all my electronic devices locked in a special box for the duration of the game.
I cannot bet on a cricket game now for the next 12 months.
It was here on a warm spring morning at Allan Border Field in suburban Brisbane, sitting in a white plastic chair, that I heard several new sounds of cricket.
Ones I’d never heard before. The jokes that were told. The deep exhales that steadied nerves. The finals words – “Go well” – that head coach Williams told his side as they ran out to field. The calm responses from the bench as runs were hit or wickets taken.
But I heard one surprising noise as assistant coach Edwards shifted in her seat. It was as if the hairs on her arms had just stood on end. The former England women’s cricket captain and ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year – who retired from the game in 2017 after two decades of international cricket – is an assistant coach with the Strikers.
As she leant across the white, plastic table in front of her I heard her say to Williams something along the lines of: “Yes, it’s on here”. Edwards had just sensed a shift in the game. Something was about to happen …
Earlier in the morning, the Strikers won the “bat flip” and chose to bowl first. They claimed two big wickets inside the first three overs, but then Scorchers’ batters Nat Sciver and Nicole Bolton settled and worked up a 47-run partnership from 38 balls to steady the ship. The batters were looking comfortable, moving well in their crease and looking to lift the run rate.
It was the start of the 10th over, with Perth sitting on 2/54. Sarah Coyte – a 28-year-old former Australian bowler from Sydney – was handed the ball by Strikers team captain Suzie Bates.
Coyte bowled her first ball to Sciver, who pulled to backward square leg for one run. Bolton was now on strike. Bates adjusted her field. The legside was wide open.
Coyte bowled, Bolton drove, but it was cut off by Coyte. Dot ball.
Coyte bowled again. Bolton played it straight back to the bowler. Dot ball.
Coyte sent down her fourth ball. Bolton drove again, straight back to the bowler. Dot ball.
Wicketkeeper Tegan McPharlin yelled from behind the stumps: “Yes, Coytey. And again! Let’s go!”.
This was when Edwards shifted in her seat. She could sense something in those three consecutive dot balls. She told me later that if you’ve watched as much women’s cricket as she has, you know that three dot balls is a game-shifter.
Coyte bowled again. Bolton tried a ramp shot, completely mistimed it and scampered through for a run, bringing Sciver to the crease. Coyte’s over so far had been: 1, 0, 0, 0, 1. One ball remained. She bowled to Sciver, who mistimed her shot and was caught by Lauren Winfield at extra cover.
Wicket! All the usual cricket sounds accompanied this moment. The crack of bat on ball, the shouts of “catch it”, the cheers as the wicket is taken.
But what I’d never heard until that moment was the pressure that builds on batters when runs dry up. How momentum in cricket can shift in as little as three balls. Adelaide went on to win this match by seven wickets and the sounds that come after a win were expected – the woops and slaps on backs, the high-fives and hugs.
So far this WBBL05 season, the Strikers have won five games, lost three and are sitting near the top of the ladder, hoping to make their second-ever finals appearance (they made a semi-final in WBBL03).
Today, they head to the Barossa Valley to take on Melbourne Stars at Nuriootpa’s Centennial Park Oval.
The team is full of confidence as it powers towards the business end of this first stand-alone WBBL series (after four seasons, Cricket Australia opted to run the women’s big bash separately from the men’s competition, which starts in late December).
If there’s one thing that becomes evident really quickly when spending time as a “fly on the wall” with this Adelaide side, it’s that the team’s spirit is matched by its professionalism. That the fun the athletes have together while playing the game they love, is still obvious even during the slog of a weights session at the gym.
They are a competitive bunch and even their warm-up games (hybrid ball games using Aussie Rules footballs or tennis balls) are hotly contested.
Each player has a nickname: Sophie Devine gets called “Sophina”, Suzie Bates is “Batesy”. Megan Schutt is “Shooter”, Tahlia McGrath is “T-Mac”. But Katie Mack just gets called Katie Mack, every time.
There’s such a thing as “cricket karma” and you should never, ever, predict an outcome halfway through an innings while in earshot of any cricketer. And never judge a pitch before both teams have batted on it.
Sport isn’t the only thing these cricketers like to play together, they challenge themselves at other games too (typically devised by Devine).
“The Whisper Game” is where one player dons headphones with music blaring while another stands in front of her and says words that the other has to guess. Turns out Alex Price is a bit hopeless at this game: as Annie O’Neil clearly says “vigorous”, Price guesses “fairy sticks”. Close.
“The Minute Game” is another, where you have to count 60 seconds in your head and whoever gets closest to an actual minute wins.
Whenever Price, known as Pricey, is “mic’d” up to do in-game commentary on television, teammates issue her with three words she has to try to say on air. In Brisbane, she doesn’t manage to complete the challenge, simply because she doesn’t know what “oblong” means.
But their love of cricket is clear. Ask any Striker what they love about the game and each will give a unique response.
South Australian Schutt – currently the world’s No. 1 T20 bowler on International Cricket Council rankings – describes the game as a sport that is “so simple, yet so complicated”.
“It’s a really individual team sport,” she says. “It’s an extremely gruelling sport in the sense that the cricket gods bring you back down to earth pretty quick, so success is even more satisfying in a game that’s pretty hard, to be honest.
“But I enjoy it, it’s a challenge in every game. It kind of owes you nothing in the sense that you can have the most amazing bowl in the week (at training) and then bowl like crap in a game and that’s just how it is.”
Kiwi Bates – the ICC’s No. 1 ranked T20 batter – comes and goes from teams regularly (she also plays with Southern Vipers in England’s Kia Super League as well as for NZ’s White Ferns of which she was formerly captain), but loves her Strikers teammates.
“I guess I’m lucky in that I’ve already had two years here so you get to know the players, the staff and it becomes like the home away from home, whereas if you’re constantly changing teams it can be a bit more unsettling,” the 32-year-old says.
“I just try to plan in advance and know where I’m going to be in a 12-month calendar. And ideally I don’t sign if I’m not surrounded by good people that I get on with.
“I’ve got to know this group and have really enjoyed my time and Adelaide, the city, it’s a good city.”
Bates is one half of the famed “Smash Sisters” and she adores opening the Strikers batting alongside her Kiwi compatriot Devine, 30, who set a WBBL record last weekend when she whacked Melbourne Stars bowler Madeline Penna for five consecutive sixes.
“I think what I love most about it is playing alongside my mates,” Devine says of cricket. “It can be a really tough sport at times. You fail more than you succeed, which can be hard on you mentally as well, but when you walk out onto the park with 10 of your best mates, playing the game that you love, it’s a pretty special opportunity to show what you can do.”
And it’s that team spirit that coach Williams is forever fostering, whether it’s through barbecues at his house or private conversations with each of his players. It’s likely that is a part of his side’s on-field success so far this season.
Williams – who has been an assistant with the Strikers since WBBL02, but this year has taken on the senior role for the first time – says “team” in cricket is vital.
“It’s a really difficult thing to measure in cricket,” he says.
“There’s a lot of individual statistics, but there’s still a real team element and that’s something that we’ve really focused on, especially in terms of our communication with each other when the girls are out there playing, so they know they are never just by themselves.
“Even when they’re in a batting situation they’re in a pair. They’re working together to be able to help each other remember their strengths and their go-to shots, and what the best options are for them, rather than just having to remember it by themselves. There is always a teammate who can assist them with their thoughts and their processes.”
During a game, Williams is constantly jotting down notes in a blue notebook. He reveals that what he’s writing are not only the over-by-over scores, but things the team’s doing really well or the things they can improve on as well as specific moments that he wants to re-watch on vision that evening. And just like Edwards, he, too, can sense momentum shifts midgame.
“The strength of our coaching staff, Jude, Charlotte and myself, is that we absolutely love the game, so we’re constantly watching vision and even if it’s not the Strikers or an opposition we’re playing next week … you get an understanding of when something is likely to happen.”
He says the elevation from assistant to head coach hasn’t made him more nervous come game day, but he feels more responsible. “You certainly get nervous, you just want the team to give the best account of themselves,” he says.
Williams’ admiration for his team is evident, saying they are “fantastic role models” not just for cricketers but everyone.
“One of the big things is really taking an interest in them as people and what they do outside of cricket, and making sure they don’t feel that their worth to our organisation and to myself as head coach is judged purely on runs and wickets,” he says.
“I think that’s really important, especially in T20 cricket – individually you’re probably going to have more days when you fail than have success, but if you can still provide something for the team and the group and help others, it can go a long way to the team having success and making those days where individually you have a tough day, still really enjoyable when the team wins.” And that’s not something you hear every day.
Adelaide Strikers v Melbourne Stars, November 16 at 1.30pm, Centennial Park Oval, Nuriootpa, free, adelaidestrikers.com.au/wbbl