Strikers bowler Megan Schutt reveals who she’s looking forward to battling on the pitch
Star fast bowler Megan Schutt reveals she’s looking forward to the battle against fellow Australian teammate Alyssa Healy as Strikers take on Sixers in WBBL
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The Adelaide Strikers will be out to do something they’ve never done before in the history of the WBBL when they take on the Sydney Sixers on Friday: beat them.
The Sixers remain the only team the Strikers have not beaten and with the competition now in its fourth season, that’s a statistic the electric blues will be wanting to turn around.
A key battle will be between Australian teammates, Strikers fast bowler Megan Schutt and Sixers opening batter Alyssa Healy.
After winning the ICC T20 World Cup together in the West Indies in November, the two find themselves on opposing sides.
Schutt said Healy’s performances in the World Cup — which earned her Player of the Series — were a standout.
While Schutt was the tournament’s equal leading wicket taker with 10, Healy was the tournament’s leading run scorer with 225 (at 56.25 with a strike rate of 144.23).
“She was so consistent,” Schutt said.
“I’ve always seen that talent in her and it’s unfortunately been produced against me a lot of the time, but for her to do that so consistently she’s taken her game to another level and I just think she’s one of those batters you can’t bowl to now with only four out.
“If you have five fielders out, you’ll have her covered, like most batters, but with her at the moment, you can’t cover every area and it bloody sucks.”
Schutt — the world’s No. 1 ranked T20 bowler — said she always looked forward to playing Healy — the world’s No. 8 ranked T20 batter.
“Her and I are actually a really good battle,” Schutt said.
“I’ve gotten her out a lot of times.
“She’s normally my bunny, I’ve got her in my pocket, but she’s generally not in this good a form though.
“It will be a really good challenge.
“We love bowling and batting to each other, it’s actually a lot of fun because we both have the bunny on top of each other sometimes.”
The Sixers look ominous, with Schutt’s Australian teammates Ashleigh Gardner (who was Player of the Match in Australia’s victory in the final of the World Cup against England) and Ellyse Perry also in the line-up.
But the Strikers go into the game having found form in their previous win over the Melbourne Stars, where all-rounder Sophie Devine’s 95 runs (including eight 4s and five 6s) and 5/41 bowling figures set a WBBL record of being the first player to score a half century and take five wickets in a single game.
Middle order batter Bridget Patterson also impressed with her maiden WBBL half-century, an unbeaten 51.
The Strikers have travelled to Sydney with a change to their 13-player squad, with bowler Ellie Falconer, 19, replacing medium pacer Samantha Betts.
Strikers v Sixers Hurstville Oval, Hurstville
Friday, 1.40pm.
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