English import Phil Salt ready to ‘explode’ in first Adelaide Strikers home game against Perth Scorchers
“Once we see the best of Phil Salt, the crowd is going to love him,’’ says Adelaide Striker Alex Carey. It comes after the Englishman got a duck in his BBL debut on Saturday night.
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Adelaide Strikers stand-in skipper Alex Carey has backed English import Phil Salt to fire in the team’s home BBL09 opener against Perth Scorchers on Monday night.
The much-heralded Salt made a duck from five balls against the Sydney Thunder in his first game in the Strikers blue on Saturday night but Carey, having played with him for Sussex in England, knows the opening batsman’s game inside out and believes it is only a matter of time before the master blaster terrorises a BBL attack.
“Once we see the best of Phil Salt, the crowd is going to love him,’’ said Carey, who has dropped down the batting order from opener to No. 4 to cater for Salt’s inclusion in the team.
“He’s so explosive and a guy who can just light up T20 cricket.
“I played with him at Sussex in the Vitality Blast and while he's still really young (23), he plays his shots from ball one and once he gets underway our fans are really going to love his work.’’
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Australian limited overs wicketkeeper-batsman Carey, who had previously opened for the Strikers with fellow left-hander Jake Weatherald, made 45 from 40 balls at No. 4 against the Thunder and is happy to bat there to “balance’’ out Adelaide’s team.
“I don’t really mind where I bat, but I think batting at four suits our list,’’ he said.
“Opening is Salt’s spot, Weatherald is really good at the top and Matt Short at three is an explosive player as well.
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“So for me to come in at four suits our line-up, with Jon Wells (at five) to finish and innings like he did against the Thunder (55 not out from 32 deliveries).’’
The Strikers are chasing their first win of the season after their opening match against the Thunder in Canberra was abandoned after 4.2 overs in the second innings because of poor visibility caused by bushfire smoke that engulfed the ground.
That gave both sides one point.
The Strikers had earlier made 5/161 from their 20 overs with the Thunder 1/40 in reply.
Carey – filling in as skipper for Travis Head, who is on Australian Test duty – described
the Strikers’ first-up effort with the bat as “competitive’’ after a tough start in the power play.
The Strikers have made one change to their 13-player squad for the 6.40pm game at Adelaide Oval against the Scorchers, with leg-spinner Liam O’Connor replacing paceman Peter Siddle, who has linked up with the Australian Test side for the Boxing Day Test against New Zealand in Melbourne.
Adelaide and Perth will don their indigenous shirts for the game and play for the Jason Gillespie Trophy.
The Scorchers, who beat the Melbourne Renegades in a high-scoring game in Perth on Saturday night, have a host of game-breakers including batsmen Mitch Marsh, Cameron Bancroft and Ashton Turner, and bowlers Jhye Richardson and Chris Jordan.
“They have a very balanced line-up,’’ Carey noted.
SQUADS
STRIKERS
Alex Carey (c), Wes Agar, Harry Conway, Rashid Khan, Harry Nielsen, Liam O’Connor, Phil Salt, Matt Short, Billy Stanlake, Cameron Valente, Jake Weatherald, Jon Wells, Cameron White.
SCORCHERS
Mitch Marsh (c), Ashton Agar, Fawad Ahmed, Cameron Bancroft, Cameron Green, Lia, Guthrie, Josh Inglis, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Joel Paris, Jhye Richardson, Ashton Turner, Sam Whiteman.