Sydney Thunder struck down by super-over heroics of Wellington, Devine as Strikers qualify for WBBL finals
They’re in! After a thrilling super over win against Sydney Thunder, Adelaide Strikers have qualified for the WBBL finals series with two games left to play.
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They’re in!
After a thrilling super over win against Sydney Thunder in Hobart, Adelaide Strikers have qualified for their second WBBL finals appearance in five seasons and sit equal top of the competition ladder.
Their ninth win – and fifth straight – came down to the wire on Sunday morning after Adelaide posted a respectable 6/161, in large thanks to opener Sophie Devine’s 88 (56 balls).
In the tense run chase, the Thunder needed 14 runs from the final over to win.
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In stepped their mid-order batter Rachel Trenaman, who hit 12 runs off the first four balls, with a leg bye bringing Nida Dar to the strike.
With scores now tied, Sydney needed one run from one ball to win.
But bowler Sarah Coyte kept her cool and as her slower ball hit Dar’s pad and the umpire raised his finger, the Strikers had miraculously tied the game and for the first time this season, a super over was needed to determine a winner: six balls each, highest score wins.
Legspinner Amanda-Jade Wellington, who had taken 3/17 until this point, was given the difficult task of bowling the over, and in a simply superb display restricted the Thunder to only six runs.
“I said to myself, if I was able to keep them from having any boundaries in the over, then I would be happy,” Wellington said.
“My aim was to bowl quite forward and quite wide, wide yorkers, so they couldn’t get under it and swing hard at it, that was my plan, not to float anything up … not give them any freebies.”
In an interesting tactic, the Thunder chose for Trenaman to face Wellington’s first ball instead of big-hitting opener Rachel Priest; perplexing in that Priest had hit a mammoth 48 off 20 balls during the run chase. But she didn’t face any balls in the super over, after she was run out on the arm of Megan Schutt.
“I was really curious and really surprised that she didn’t face the first ball, with the way Priesty was hitting with her strike rate and power,” Wellington said.
Following the run out, the next ball was a dot: huge in a super over and three more singles followed.
“There was a real electric feeling knowing everyone was behind me and I’d got the job done,” Wellington said.
So Devine returned to the crease alongside Strikers captain Suzie Bates needing seven runs to win.
When Devine’s first hit cleared the fielders and the ball bounded into the rope, the win was essentially Adelaide’s and Devine hit three more runs from the next two balls to take home player of the match accolades, the fifth time she’s done so this season.
But even she’s surprised Wellington didn’t walk away with the honour.
“As soon as you can keep teams in super overs to under 10 runs, the pressure immediately goes on their bowling side to try and back that up, so I thought all credit has to go to Wellington there, she made my and Batesy’s job really simple out there,” Devine said.
“Looking at the situation of the game and when she bowled and the wickets she took, I thought 100 per cent she deserved player of the match.
“I think sometimes you can get carried away with stats and number of runs, but anyone here watching the game would say that Wello was well and truly player of the match with how she held her nerve … full credit goes to her in keeping us in that game.”
However, Devine is in superior form and is now leading the competition for most runs scored with 593 and her 88 is her highest score this season.
The Strikers now play Sydney Sixers in a double header at Hurstville Oval on Saturday and Sunday, with one thing on their minds: finishing top to secure a finals’ series played at home in Adelaide.