Cricket news: Adelaide Strikers forced to reschedule WBBL clash after passing of Keith Bradshaw
Adelaide Strikers players have been forced to reschedule their recognised First Nations Round clash as they mourn the passing of one of cricket’s most innovative administrators.
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Wednesday’s Women’s Big Bash League clash between Adelaide Strikers and Perth Scorchers has been rescheduled so players can attend the funeral of cricket’s innovative administrator Keith Bradshaw.
Bradshaw, who introduced the Pink Ball Test to Adelaide as part of his 10 years as SACA boss, will be farewelled at a private funeral on Wednesday afternoon after he died last week, aged 58, following a 13-year battle with cancer.
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The Strikers/Scorchers clash had originally been scheduled for Karen Rolton Oval at 3.10pm but has been brought forward to 10am to allow the Strikers to attend Bradshaw’s funeral and form a special guard of honour for him as part of a final procession around Adelaide Oval.
Strikers captain Tahlia McGrath said the players had been grappling with the loss of the beloved administrator.
“It’s been tough,” she said. “His support of women’s cricket in particular. He was a hugely influential person and a hugely passionate person who will be sorely missed.”
Scorchers captain Sophie Devine — who played for Adelaide in the WNCL as well as the WBBL until she changed clubs last year — said her side was supportive of the game time-change.
“Keith was incredible … his passion for cricket was infectious,” she said.
The fixture change comes as the Strikers and Scorchers prepare to play for the Faith Thomas Trophy, named after Thomas who in 1958 became not only the first Aboriginal woman to play cricket for Australia, but the first Aboriginal woman to represent Australia in any team sport.
Now 88, Thomas lives in a nursing home in Port Augusta in regional South Australia.
The Strikers and Scorchers have played for the Faith Thomas Trophy since WBBL03, but in WBBL07 this year, it will have added significance, forming part of the inaugural First Nations Round being celebrated in every game across the tournament this week, where teams will wear Indigenous kits.
Devine said it was an honour to play for the Faith Thomas Trophy.
“It’s role models like Faith who have paved the way for players like us to come through, especially Indigenous kids and Faith is a great role model,” she said.
McGrath agreed: “Faith is a pioneer of the game and is someone we look up to.
“(The first nations Round) is a really good initiative from Cricket Australia and the fact that we’re getting educated on Indigenous culture and celebrating Indigenous culture is a huge positive for cricket in general.”
The Strikers and Scorchers are currently inside the top four – which qualifies them for finals – with three games left.
Devine said with the Strikers now on a four-game winning streak they were coming into the match in hot form.
“They’ve been going extremely well and Dane van Niekerk has obviously been a big addition, and I have to say it, Megan Schutt has been pretty outstanding since coming back into the side (after missing the opening four games).”
WBBL First Nations Round looms as ‘Eddie Betts moment’
For Ash Gardner — one of five Indigenous cricketers competing in the WBBL — the significance of Cricket Australia announcing the inaugural league-wide First Nations Round cannot be understated.
“To have a First Nations round is really important to me and the other First Nations people here, just to be able to recognise our rich and diverse culture,” she said.
“It’s something I’ve been longing for seven seasons now and to finally have it and to have an amazing strip to wear is something I’ll be proud of.”
The WBBL’s First Nations Round will take place from November 17-21 on the lands of the Kaurna people at Adelaide Oval and Karen Rolton Oval and the Yuwibara people at Great Barrier Reef Arena, Mackay.
The BBL First Nations Round will be held from January 8-14 in venues nationwide.
In honour of the announcement, Gardner, a proud Muruwari woman, joined the WBBL’s four other Indigenous players — Hannah Darlington (Sydney Thunder), Anika Learoyd (Thunder), Mikayla Hinkley (Brisbane Heat) and Ella Hayward (Melbourne Renegades) — along with other players, on the banks of Adelaide’s River Torrens on Monday morning and was shown basketweaving by a Kaurna elder.
Gardner, an all-rounder for the Sydney Sixers and Australia, said she hoped the number of Indigenous cricketers increased in the coming years.
“You can’t be what you can’t see,” the 24-year-old said.
“There haven’t been those people for kids to look up to (in cricket).
“You look at AFL or NRL there’s been such a high number of First Nations players, so they’ve had something to strive to be like, they want to be like Eddie Betts … whereas in the cricketing space there haven’t been those players and hopefully I am inspiring some people to want to pick up the game of cricket and that goes for the other four players as well and the male players.
“Hopefully over the next 10 years there’ll be plenty more players.”
Renegades young gun Ella Hayward, from Melbourne’s Jawoyn mob, said she was proud to see the First Nations Round celebrated league-wide.
“Obviously being part of my background, it’s super awesome to see an actual round and get so much media and traction around Indigenous culture in cricket and it’s really awesome to represent my tribe and my culture,” she said.
Both the WBBL and the BBL First Nations rounds will acknowledge, pay respect and celebrate the hundreds of First Nations and traditional custodians of the land and waters encompassing where we are privileged to live, work and play the great game of cricket on.
Mid-season review
Seven games down, seven to go. The first half of WBBL07 has thrown up a surprise or two and seen some familiar faces continue to dominate.
Liz Walsh recalls the good, bad and ugly and looks ahead to what is shaping as a stirring second half.
1. Frontrunner
Two-time WBBL champions Brisbane Heat are humming along nicely, not only with a positive win-loss ratio (only the Heat and Melbourne Renegades have more wins than losses so far), but Grace Harris has scored the most runs with 251 (Harris also leads the most-fours count with 29) and captain Jess Jonassen is sitting atop the most wickets with 12. The Heat also have the best net run rate so far (0.618).
2. Surprise packet
The Melbourne Renegades are well and truly setting the pace, winning more games already than they did in the entire 2020 competition. They lost their international leggie, Georgia Wareham, early in the tournament, with a major knee injury but have not let that hold them back.
3. Needs to lift
Plenty of candidates here.
Sydney Thunder are the reigning champs but find themselves sitting at the bottom of the ladder., While they’re missing some key elements of their 2020 squad, with captain Rachael Haynes sitting out after welcoming son Hugo into the world, and England captain Heather Knight – who was huge for the Thunder last year – they’ve still got some big names, with Indian stars Smriti Mandhana and Deepti Sharma needing to fire.
But they aren’t alone in their struggles. Adelaide Strikers desperately need to reclaim their winning edge having not had a win since the opening weekend and they sit 2-3 (with one no result).
And last year’s finalists Melbourne Stars might be sitting fourth after eight games (3-4-1), but they have a negative net run rate (-0.213). With the tournament as tight as it is coming into the back half of games, the NRR could well determine who makes finals.
Then there’s Hobart Hurricanes who would desperately be wanting to avoid their second-straight wooden spoon. They are currently sitting second last on NRR with only two wins from eight games.
4. Best with bat
It’s always hard to go past Scorchers’ Kiwi import and opener Sophie Devine, who comes into the WBBL07 on the back of consecutive Player of the Tournament accolades from 2020 and 2019.
She’s already scored a century (a 60-ball 101 against the Thunder), and has won two super overs for Perth (most notably hitting 12 runs from two balls against the Strikers), but remarkably she sits outside the Top 10 for most runs (she’s 12th with 164).
Most runs currently sits with the Heat’s big-hitting Grace Harris (251) ahead of Hurricanes’ Mignon du Preez (224).
Renegades’ Indian import Harmapreet Kaur has the most sixes (10), while Sixers’ opener Alyssa Healy has the best strike-rate of the recognised batters in the competition with 148.
5. Best with ball
Melbourne Stars’ Kim Garth and Annabel Sutherland have taken 20 wickets between them so far, with Garth’s economy rate of 5.18 impressing.
Strikers’ Megan Schutt has return to the side after missing the opening games while caring for her newborn daughter in Adelaide and already has the second-best economy rate in the tournament (4.62), behind the injured Wareham.
But it’s the Heat’s Jonassen who has found impressive form after missing the most recent Aussie series against India due to a leg injury. She has 12 wickets, an economy rate of 5.50, with best figures of 3-14.
Keep an eye out for Hurricane’s teenage all-rounder Ruth Johnston who has the best figures to her name so far with an eye-watering 4-8, which she claimed against the Stars in Hobart.
6. Best fielding moment
WBBL07 has been filled with magic moments in the field, but none more so than Striker Bridget Patterson’s juggling boundary catch on the opening weekend.
7. Bold prediction
In 2020, we saw the Melbourne Stars turn around their wooden spoon from 2019 into a spot in the final (losing to the Thunder). Expect a similar change in fortunes for the ‘Gades.
But the Sydney Sixers have the best team on paper with Healy, Ellyse Perry, Ash Gardner and Indian young gun Shafali Verma, and they’ll find form at the right time, return to finals and take it out.
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