Adelaide Strikers on the road for three games in five days as they look to cement a place in finals
Records have been broken, crowds have been entertained and with five games left before finals, LIZ WALSH gives five key points about where second-placed Adelaide Strikers are at.
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There are five games left in the Women’s Big Bash League’s minor rounds and Adelaide Strikers remain a real threat, sitting second with six wins and three losses.
The Strikers start their run home to December’s finals series on Wednesday, when they take on Sydney Thunder for the first time this season at North Dalton Park, Wollongong.
Here are five key points of their season to date:
1. How’s the economy:
Strikers’ bowlers have been miserly this WBBL, and it showed on Saturday with the line-up restricting the Stars to under 100 runs.
Megan Schutt – the ICC’s world No. 1 ranked T20 bowler – is leading that charge and her 0/13 from four overs on Saturday typified her season to date.
Schutt is one of two bowlers in the competition to have bowled her full four-over quota in every game, with the majority of her overs coming inside the power play. She’s second in the league overall for economy with 5.08.
For Schutt to have bowled 36 overs in nine games and be sitting second in the economy figures – she’s behind Melbourne Renegades’ English import Danni Wyatt on 5.0, but Wyatt’s bowled only six overs – is impressive.
(Thunder’s Samantha Bates has also bowled 36 overs in nine games for an economy of 7.41.)
Meanwhile, Sophie Devine is the team’s highest wicket-taker with 13, placing her second in the comp behind Brisbane Heat’s Jess Jonassen who’s taken 16 scalps.
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2. Bridget Patterson’s a standout:
The 25-year-old is having a spectacular season having settled in beautifully at No. 4 with the bat and then shining in the field.
She’s piling on the runs and pulling her side out of trouble spots. On Saturday, she came in after Tahlia McGrath lost her wicket cheaply and not only brought up her 1000th WBBL career run with a well-time boundary, but went on to notch up a 102-run partnership with opener Devine.
Patterson sits behind Devine for most Strikers runs this season (Devine has 412, with Patterson on 233, ahead of Suzie Bates with 199).
Patterson is also becoming known for her catches deep on the boundary and is leading the WBBL for most catches, with a bag of seven.
“You do that many catches in training, you know you’re probably going to catch it if it comes to you,” she said. “I’ve always known I’ve been able to contribute, but it’s been good to be able to contribute consistently.”
3. Three games in five days:
The Strikers are now on the road for all of their final five games. They head to New South Wales on Tuesday to take on the Thunder on Wednesday and then go straight to Tasmania for two games on Saturday and Sunday against Hobart Hurricanes and Thunder respectively.
The fixture has thrown a curve ball this weekend, with the Strikers playing Saturday night, with a finish time of approximately 9.30pm and then must be back at Blundstone Arena to take on Thunder at 9.30am (Adelaide time).
Leg-spinner Amanda-Jade Wellington said the squad had been put through training sessions that mimicked that tough schedule, and they were prepared for the quick turnaround.
It’s interesting to note that exactly the same schedule was faced by the Heat the previous weekend and they walked away with big wins over Perth Scorchers and the Thunder.
4. Run home to finals:
With six wins from nine games, the Strikers have already beaten their win count from last season, but with such a congested ladder (just two wins separate first from fifth), every game remains a must-win with the top four going through to finals.
Wellington said while there was a good vibe in the team, no-one wanted to get too ahead of themselves.
“We’re not trying to think about too much at the moment, just play our natural game of cricket, aggressive and put on a show for the crowd,” she said.
The Strikers finish with two games against Sydney Sixers, the only team the Strikers have never been able to beat in the previous four seasons of the WBBL on November 30 and December 1 at Hurtsville Oval in Sydney. These games will prove season-defining.
5. Crowds:
More than 1800 people turned up to Nuriootpa to support women’s cricket on Saturday, the biggest crowd to a WBBL game so far this season in SA.
That crowd number followed on from the previous Sunday where Karen Rolton Oval hosted more than 1500 people, the largest crowd at K-Rol for a WBBL game to date.