Run outs involving openers Alex Carey and Jake Weatherald are an issue for Adelaide Strikers

Adelaide Strikers have faltered in their bid for back-to-back BBL crowns on the back of three successive losses and an issue at the top of the batting order is proving a worry.

The run-out plague at the top of the Adelaide Strikers’ batting order has become a significant issue in the team’s faltering title defence.

Experienced duo Alex Carey and Jake Weatherald have opened the batting in eight of the Strikers’ 10 games and there have been five run outs.

Carey, who missed two games while on national duty, has been run out three times, while Weatherald has been caught short of his crease twice. However, his first run out for the season was in the Strikers’ fifth game when he had scored 71 and Carey had already been dismissed.

Strikers’ Alex Carey makes his ground as Peter Handscombe of the Stars removes the bails in the BBL clash in Moe on Wednesday. Picture: Mark Dadswell/AAP

The latest run out was in the 44-run loss to Melbourne Stars in Moe on Wednesday when Weatherald lost his wicket for just three runs. The Strikers struggled with the bat and managed only 123 runs in the team’s third successive defeat.

Having fallen to sixth on the ladder with four games remaining, the Strikers face second-placed Sydney Sixers at the SCG on Tuesday then runaway ladder-leading Hobart Hurricanes in Launceston on Thursday.

Their final two games are against bottom sides Brisbane Heat and Perth Scorchers.

Carey blames bad luck for the spate of run outs and he believes “little things” are going against the team.

“We are not getting that little bit of luck,” Carey said. “Balls are just flying over our head in the field, but we are getting caught.

“This game teases us a lot. We just need something special in the field, or an amazing innings to get us going. We don’t need much, it is that close.

“We are not playing our best cricket and it is hard to put a finger on it. It is probably all three facets which can definitely improve, batting, bowling and fielding.

“We have been trying to work out the last couple of games. Guys are not bowling rubbish and we are not batting rubbish, it is just one of those things at the moment.”

Carey is adamant the mood is still positive and the next two games against high quality opposition provided a tremendous opportunity for the Strikers.

He said the Strikers were a proud group and he had full trust in his teammates to arrest the side’s struggles.

Originally published as Run outs involving openers Alex Carey and Jake Weatherald are an issue for Adelaide Strikers