The Adelaide Strikers scaled new heights under the leadership of Tahlia McGrath clinching their maiden WBBL title in the 8th edition of the tournament in 2022, by defeating the Sydney Sixers led by skipper Ellyse Perry by 10 runs in the final.
The Strikers managed to continue their momentum and lived up to their expectations. They came back even stronger and defended their maiden title by defeating the Brisbane Heat led by skipper Jess Jonassen by 3 runs in the final of the 9th edition of the tournament at the Adelaide Oval, adding a 2nd silverware in their cabinet in successive seasons.
The veteran pacer, Megan Schutt (49 wickets across two seasons), and the leg-spin bowling all-rounder Amanda-Jade Wellington (46 wickets across two seasons) were at the heart of the Adelaide Strikers title-winning campaign in the bowling department with the leg-spinner finishing as the 3rd highest wicket-taker of the tournament on both occasions.
The Strikers bowling unit, in general, played a pivotal role in their title triumphs. Moving back to the ongoing 10th edition of the WBBL, the bowling unit with similar faces has gone off-color managing just 34 wickets at an economy of 8.99 in seven matches so far, as compared to 100 wickets with an economy of 6.44 in the whole season last time around. The sharp dip in the number of wickets has adversely affected their performances this season.
However, all is not gloomy for the Strikers as the batting department has shown significant signs of improvement this season, surpassing a total of 150 on five out of the seven occasions so far with the tournament, with an impressive run rate of 8.06 as compared to the 7.24 last season.
“If your batters are doing their job and scoring a large majority of the runs in the season compared to other teams, it must be a little bit about your bowling unit. There’s someone like Amanda-Jade Wellington who for the last 10 seasons you’ve been able to bank on with the economy rate and wickets and teams have been taking her down,” analyzed Holly Ferling on The Surge podcast about the lack of support from the bowling unit and the diminishing returns of one of their premier spinner Amanda-Jade Wellington.
Amanda-Jade has just picked up five wickets in seven innings with the ball for her side so far. Megan Schutt, one of their premier fast bowlers has just managed to pick up 8 wickets in 7 innings with the ball for her side. She is still the leading wicket-taker for her side this season so far. Skipper Tahlia McGrath is the leading run-scorer for their side with 198 runs in seven innings with the bat for her side so far.
Adelaide Strikers are currently placed at the bottom of the points table with just a solitary victory against the Sydney Sixers in the second of their campaign this season. They are potentially out of contention for the race for the knockout stages of the tournament, with the slimmest of mathematical chances and just three games to go. Their fate this season is out of their hands and will have to depend on the other results to achieve the unthinkable.
“For some reason this year, it hasn’t gone their way,” Holly Ferling reflected on the lackluster season so far for the Adelaide Strikers. She added, “You talk about momentum, they played four games in the first seven or eight days, and they lost a few and all of a sudden, when momentum is against you in tournament play, it’s really hard to shift it again. But I’m so surprised that they are where they are.”
(Quotes sourced from cricket.com.au)
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