D'Arcy Short, spinners get Strikers off the mark
The Melbourne Stars suffered their third straight defeat in as many matches in the Big Bash 2024 as they were beaten by the Adelaide Strikers by 15 runs, having failed to chase a target of 166 at the Adelaide Oval. Lloyd Pope, who was smashed for 31 runs in an over by Daniel Sams on Tuesday in their opening bout, turned hero today as he bowled a match-winning spell of 3 for 21 to restrict the Stars to 150 for 9 in their allotted overs.
Having opted to bowl, Adam Milne was dispatched for six in his first over before he bounced back in his second over to pick up the Strikers skipper Matthew Short. But it was still an expensive second over for Milne as left-hander D'Arcy Short clinched three boundaries off him. Short went on to retain most of the strike in the next few overs as he latched into Tom Curran as well in a 13-run over as the hosts had raced away to 50 for 1 in their first five overs.
Despite Glenn Maxwell picking up Jake Weatherald, at the other end, D'Arcy continued his onslaught against the favourable match-up of left-arm orthodox spinner Doug Warren, clinching two boundaries to take to 49. He then brought up his 33-ball fifty with a single to long-on, his 23rd in the BBL. This was sandwiched by overseas signing Ollie Pope miscuing a reverse scoop to the wicket-keeper. New batter Alex Ross was dropped on two and two overs later, in the power surge, both Ross and D'Arcy lined up Curran for maximums. It took a spectacular catch to remove a menacing D'Arcy as Ben Duckett leaped into the air to pluck a catch with his right-hand after the batter had thought he had creamed it through the covers.
Ross continued to deal in sixes off Warren while James Bazley scored some timely boundaries while Curran endured a tough day with the ball as he conceded 46 runs in his four overs with no wickets to show, It took the Strikers past the 160-mark, and the hosts had scored 40 runs in their last four overs.
In response, the Stars got off to a horrid start as debutant Duckett was dismissed for a golden duck as he was trapped LBW by skipper Matthew. Stoinis on the other hand, needed no sighters and hit two boundaries off his first four balls. But the Stars skipper survived a couple of lucky breaks - a DRS appeal for which no ball tracking was available which was followed by a missed run out opportunity by the hosts. He then took full toll of that as he smashed Jamie Overton for a six followed by two boundaries against Liam Scott. Just when he was looking set, Stoinis played was bowled by legspinner Cameron Boyce against the run of play. But Maxwell still ensured it was a big over as hit two sixes to end Boyce's over.
However, the threat of Maxwell came to a tame end as he was given out LBW off Henry Thornton while Matthew picked up Thomas Rogers cheaply. Despite being on track of the asking rate, the Stars had lost four big wickets in their first 10 overs. The Stars had scored only 23 runs from overs 7-11 and the pressure created by the Strikers paid off with Pope sneaking a googly through Hilton Cartwright to have him bowled. Despite Sam Harper holding up one end with a fighting 48, wickets continued to fall at the other as Beau Webster scooped one of his gloves to wicket-keeper Ollie.
Harper fell to Lloyd, also bowled to the legspinner but Curran hit a couple of boundaries to keep the Stars in the hunt. With 41 required off the last three overs, Milne holed out to long-on off Lloyd as the equation continued to get tougher for the visitors. Curran fell in the penultimate over for 25 before Matthew ended the proceedings in the final over.
Brief Scores: Adelaide Strikers 165/6 in 20 overs (D'Arcy Short 60, Alex Ross 35; Peter Siddle 2-21, Adam Milne 2-32) beat Melbourne Stars 150/9 in 20 overs (Sam Harper 48, Tom Curran 25; Lloyd Pope 3-21, Matthew Short 2-23) by 15 runs