Adelaide Strikers 3 for 170 (Weatherald 82, Carey 54, Milenko 1-19) beat Hobart Hurricanes 7 for 169 (Wade 88, Laughlin 3-31) by seven wickets
An electrifying century stand from Jake Weatherald and Alex Carey helped Adelaide Strikers break a four-game losing streak in a massive upset over Hobart Hurricanes in Launceston.
The win kept the Strikers' slim finals hopes alive, while the Hurricanes lost for the third time batting first this season season.
Chasing 170, Weatherald and Carey scored 84 runs in the Powerplay against a Hurricanes attack that has scythed through opponents all season.
The striking was belligerent and brought back memories of last year's final, when Weatherald's assault yielded a title-winning century. He fell 18 runs shy of another BBL hundred, but his 82 from 42 balls made light work of the chase. Carey's 54 from 35 was equally brilliant as the Strikers won with seven wickets and 12 balls to spare.
The chase overshadowed another masterclass from Matthew Wade. He made his highest T20 score, 88 off just 54 balls to underpin the Hurricanes' total of 7 for 169. It was his fifth half-century of the tournament and he was part of a 10th half-century opening stand with D'Arcy Short in the BBL.
But both Wade and Short fell to the crafty skills of Ben Laughlin who made the difference with his 3 for 31. He also had Wade dropped twice. But in removing Wade in the 18th over, he cut the chase down significantly as Hobart only managed 27 runs from the last 24 balls of the innings.
It's Groundhog day, again
The Strikers were on the receiving end of an unbroken 158-run stand between Wade and Short at Adelaide Oval earlier in the season and history looked set to repeat in the Powerplay. They cruised to 53 without loss here. The Strikers tried a fresh new-ball option with Cam Valente opening the bowling and delivering three overs upfront. He did a good job not concede a boundary in his first two overs before Wade cleared the fence in his third. Laughlin finally made the breakthrough forcing Short to miscue with a clever slower ball. Wade got a huge slice of luck, dropped at long-off by Michael Neser off Laughlin two overs later. He made the Strikers pay pulverising them, particularly square of the wicket. Half his runs came from boundaries and the rest was through smart placement and excellent running.
Laughlin strikes back
Wade looked set for first T20 hundred when he was dropped for a second time on 86 by Wes Agar after skying another ball off Laughlin. But he missed a low full toss next ball to be trapped plumb lbw. Two balls earlier Ben McDermott had fallen to Rashid Khan, and the innings lost all the momentum.
George Bailey couldn't continue his form holing out for a three-ball duck. Laughlin and Neser delivered a brilliant mixture of yorkers, slower balls and bouncers to take 4 for 19 in the last three overs. They conceded only one boundary and it came by accident, with Jofra Archer leaving his bat raised while ducking a bouncer only for it fortuitously to fly off the middle of the bat fine of third man.
The boys are back
It's been a lean tournament for Carey and Weatherald by their lofty standards. They had two fifty partnerships earlier in the season but their last four games had been plagued by mix-ups and mis-hits. Sometimes all it takes is one slice of luck. Weatherald edged his first ball wide of second slip and away to the boundary. On another day it would have gone straight to hand. It released any nervous tension.
Wade then gambled with 18-year-old offspinner Jarrod Freeman in the second over and it backfired. Weatherald and Carey clubbed 17 from the over and kept going. They struck eight fours and three sixes in 15 balls of extraordinary striking. Weatherald played one of the shots of the tournament when he hit James Faulkner inside out over cover for six. Carey raised him with a monstrous strike over long-on off Archer having already hit three consecutive fours.
Both men had some fortune. Weatherald was dropped by Archer at mid-on while Carey gloved a ball short of the keeper. They reached 0 for 84 in the Powerplay, the equal fourth-best in BBL history. Their 116-run partnership was finally broken with Carey falling to a bizarre caught and bowled off Simon Milenko. Weatherald kept rolling, striking 11 boundaries and two sixes during his 82 from 42 balls. He was frustrated not to finish the chase off, holing out at deep midwicket. There was another little hiccup when Jake Lehmann was trapped infront three balls later but Jono Wells and Colin Ingram cruised home from there.
