Perth Scorchers 146 for 3 (Allen 50, Connolly 48*, Turner 35*, Thornton 2-26) beat Adelaide Strikers 142 for 8 (Doggett 47*, J Richardson 3-29, Behrendorff 2-14, Morris 2-19) by seven wickets
Perth Scorchers completed 2024 in second place on the BBL ladder after cruising to a seven-wicket win over the Adelaide Strikers on New Yr’s Eve.
The Scorchers reply, although, wasn’t with out drama. Matt Hurst was dropped twice earlier than being pouched for 3, and Scorchers ought to have been 13 for 3 when Connolly, on 4, edged Doggett to wicketkeeper Ollie Pope however solely the bowler supplied a muted attraction.
The pair exchanged phrases earlier than clashing once more when Overton ran Allen out backing up on the non-striker’s finish, however did not comply with by means of with the attraction, as an alternative animatedly warning the New Zealander for backing up too far.
After Doggett castled Allen, Turner got here in and completed the job by crunching Boyce for six, 6, 4.
Earlier, Strikers crashed to 58 for 8 earlier than Doggett – whose earlier finest T20 rating was 10 not out – and Boyce turned unlikely batting allies.
Solely D’Arcy Brief and Ross – filling in as skipper for injured Matt Brief, who suffered a fractured toe towards Hobart Hurricanes final Friday – reached double figures for Strikers earlier than Doggett and Boyce’s resurrection job.
“Credit score to them, they bowled nicely within the first 6 to 10 overs,” Strikers opener Brief stated. “It was good for the boys to placed on a little bit of rating for us to attempt to defend, however in the long run it wasn’t sufficient.”
Pope and Chris Lynn went cheaply earlier than Jake Weatherald fell to a surprising one-handed catch by Andrew Tye, launching himself skyward at mid-off.
The paceman had Overton prodding a forefront to Ashton Agar at backward level, then cleaned up Liam Scott with an outstanding yorker subsequent ball.
“It [win] was good,” Richardson stated. “We’d have favored to have saved them to a fair decrease rating. Coming into at the moment, we all know this can be a high-scoring venue and [conceding] 140-odd, we’d have taken on daily basis.”
Strikers, who misplaced 6 for 18 in 30 balls, have been rescued by Doggett and Boyce who mixed for an unbroken 84-run srand, the all time for the penultimate wicket.
Tempo trio Richardson, Jason Behrendorff and Lance Morris have been the chief destroyers with the ball for the guests, whose solely concern got here when Agar left the sector with again spasms, though Scorchers do not consider he’ll miss any video games.
“I’d anticipate him to be again subsequent recreation,” Richardson stated. “It was a little bit of an unlucky spasm on the improper time. I believe he’ll be tremendous.”
