Adelaide Strikers 6 for 155 (Salt 54, Carey 41, Richardson 4-33, Boyce 2-18) beat Melbourne Renegades 8 for 137 (Finch 50, Webster 37*, Rashid 2-15, Agar 2-20) by 18 runs
On a difficult batting surface, the packed Sunday crowd at the Docklands witnessed two enterprising half-centuries from Phil Salt and Aaron Finch, but a back-breaking 13th over in the Melbourne Renegades chase saw them succumb to a fourth defeat in a row, this time against the Adelaide Strikers. The Strikers' win lifted them to the top of the BBL points table while defending champions Renegades remained at the bottom.
The match also witnessed a bizarre moment when umpire Greg Davidson stole the spotlight in the 17th over of the chase. With Rashid Khan appealing for a plumb lbw against Beau Webster, Davidson raised his finger towards his head before pulling it back and scratching his nose instead. The Strikers fielders, who were already celebrating, were left dumbfounded while Webster had to turn around after beginning his walk towards the pavilion. But in the end, the moment did not cost the Strikers much.
Salt repays the faith
After scores of 0, 2 and 14 in his first three games for the Strikers, Salt's chances to impress were running out. But he made amends on Sunday, thanks in part to the width offered by Harry Gurney and Richard Gleeson early on. He struck seven consecutive fours off seven legal deliveries across the third and fourth overs, preferring the midwicket region in particular. He pushed on after Jake Weatherald's dismissal to Kane Richardson for 6, and helped the Strikers to 1 for 58 after six overs. Runs flowed for Salt in the company of Alex Carey when the quick bowlers were on, but the introduction of spin from both ends turned the screws on them. Soon after Salt reached his fifty in 23 balls, he was caught and bowled by legspinner Cameron Boyce for a 26-ball 54.
Spin, Richardson lead Renegades fightback
Once the in-form Jonathan Wells joined Carey in the ninth over, the Strikers relied mainly on singles and twos as they couldn't find the boundary as frequently as they would have liked, with the unusually slow outfield playing tricks with the batsmen. Dan Christian and Will Sutherland, playing his first game of the season, bowled tidy spells and the lack of boundaries eventually got the better of the Strikers' batsmen. Carey holed out to deep midwicket off Boyce for 41 in the 17th over, and Wells followed in the next over when he was caught off Richardson at the long-on boundary.
Khan's promotion over Cameron White in the batting order boosted the Strikers' run rate. He swung hard against the fast bowlers at the death, finding top edges that flew over the boundary. He struck Richardson for two fours and as many sixes for a 16-ball 25, but the Strikers could manage only 6 for 155. Three wickets in his second spell saw Richardson finish with 4 for 33, his second four-for in three games.
Unlucky 13th for Renegades
A second fifty in a row from Finch set the base well for the Renegades chase. After Sam Harper fell for an 14-ball 11, Finch found his groove against the fast bowlers, especially Cameron Valente. He used the bottom hand to shovel boundaries across the sluggish outfield. Finch reached his half-century off 38 balls on the first ball of the 13th over, but things changed remarkably in the next five deliveries.
First came Khan's brilliance from point. Finch looked to pinch a single, but Khan's rapid throw brought the stumps down at the non-striker's end to send the Renegades captain back. Next ball, Marcus Harris flicked Wes Agar's length delivery to the fielder at deep midwicket. The horror over for the Renegades ended when Christian was run-out for a duck courtesy Salt's direct hit from mid-on. In the space of five balls, the Renegades were reduced from 2 for 88 to 5 for 89.
With the middle order well and truly exposed, the Strikers captain Carey brought Khan back for his second spell, and Sutherland failed to pick his googly and was bowled for 1 in the 15th over. Two overs later came the incident with umpire Davidson, and at the end of Khan's spell, the Renegades needed 40 off 18.
Webster teases the home fans
With the Renegades six down and needing north of 13 per over in the last three overs, the responsibility to see the team through fell on Webster, the last recognised batsman in the side. Making full use of the reprieve in Khan's over, Webster clattered 14 in the 18th over off Peter Siddle and brought the equation down to 26 from 12. But he failed to repeat it in the 19th as Agar went full and wide to concede only three runs. Valente - defending 22 in the final over - closed the game out for the Strikers with two wickets. Salt aptly took the winning catch off the final ball of the innings, but Khan collected the Player-of-the-Match award for his runs, the Finch run-out and his 2 for 15 from four overs.
