Short’s 44-ball 72 helps make light work of a modest chase
Adelaide Strikers 3 for 129 (Short 72 not out, Lamichhane 2-22 ) beat Hobart Hurricanes 126 (Short 32, Siddle 5-23, Rashid 2-26) by seven wickets
After being sent in, a struggling Hurricanes were bamboozled by 37-year-old Siddle who unleashed his full-length mastery to great effect and helped restrict the visitors to just 126.
The game was moved back an hour after BBL’s tumult continued when Wednesday night’s latter clash between Brisbane Heat and Sydney Sixers was postponed due to 12 Heat players and a coach returning positive PCR tests to Covid-19.
Hurricanes also had some upheaval with international players Harry Brook and Jordan Thompson ruled out due to being close contacts of allrounder Josh Kann, who has tested positive for Covid-19 and is in isolation in Hobart.
Siddle turns back the clock
Even though seven of the last eight games at Adelaide Oval had been won by the team batting first, Strikers elected to bowl perhaps due to the forecast of rain.
Strikers’ attack has been their strength but they decided to change it up with legspinner Fawad Ahmed replaced by exuberant seamer Harry Conway, who made his season debut and set the tone with the big wicket of Hurricanes skipper Matthew Wade in the first over.
They frustrated a reckless Hurricanes batting outfit and picked up wickets at important junctures to maintain a stranglehold. Siddle, who had earlier claimed the key scalp of Ben McDermott cheaply, bowled dangerous Tim David in the power surge in a game-changing moment.
Strikers’ bowlers impressively maintained control of the increasingly greasy ball as Siddle starred at the death with superb yorkers to claim three wickets in the final over and finish with his second five-wicket haul of his T20 career.
Full report to follow
Tristan Lavalette is a journalist based in Perth