Strikers catch Scorchers at WACA
A four-wicket haul from Jason Behrendorff wasn’t enough as the new-look Perth Scorchers got their Big Bash League title defence off to a less than ideal start with a tense one-wicket defeat to the Adelaide Strikers at the WACA Ground.
Key recruit Michael Klinger top-scored with 49 for a Scorchers side that featured just three players – Adam Voges, Sam Whiteman and Behrendorff – from the team that beat Hobart in last season’s final.
But Klinger was the only batsman to reach 30 for the Scorchers, whose lack of hitting power was exposed.
Klinger hit seven boundaries, with the rest of the team combining for just 10 in a total of 7-146 despite seeing out the full 20 overs.
Coming off an impressive eight-wicket win over title fancies the Melbourne Stars last week, Adelaide reached 9-147 with just two balls to spare in front of 18,693 mostly disappointed fans.
Strikers batsman Brad Hodge did most of the damage, top-scoring with 42 before holing out in the 18th over.
But it was Adam Zampa, who earlier survived a huge shout for caught behind, who hit a big six off Yasir Arafat in the final over to drag the Strikers level.
Arafat then bowled a no-ball to gift the Strikers victory.
Behrendorff was the star with the ball, dismissing the dangerous Kieron Pollard (15) and Johan Botha (four) in his final over to claim figures of 4-22.
Earlier, Behrendorff dismissed former Scorchers power-hitter Craig Simmons (12) and Tim Ludeman (17).
But Behrendorff’s brilliant performance couldn’t drag the Scorchers over the line as Zampa guided Adelaide home in the dying stages.
Andrew Tye had felt he had Zampa caught behind with the first ball of the 19th over but was denied.
Scorchers recruit Michael Carberry made his intentions known early on his Big Bash League debut, hitting the first ball he faced to the boundary off Johan Botha.
But the English opener struggled to time his shots on a regular basis and would play a secondary role in the early overs as Harris took control.
There was a comical moment during the fifth over when Carberry attempted to heave Richardson over the top of the infield but failed to make connection and lost grip of his bat, which went flying 20m away.
Harris was out for 26 when he was well caught by the diving Ross off the bowling of Botha.
Carberry survived a strong shout for caught behind off Botha in the ninth over and went on to make 27 off 35 balls before eventually being snared by Ben Laughlin (1-32).
The Scorchers had wickets in hand at the halfway mark, but the run rate was too slow.
Voges was forced to try to lift the run rate when he came in and was caught in the deep off Zampa (1-30) for two.
Ashton Turner (12), Klinger and Sam Whiteman (10) followed Voges back to the pavilion as Richardson ripped a hole in the Scorchers’ middle order, responding to some early treatment by claiming 3-7 in the space of eight balls.
Richardson finished with 3-31, while Botha 1-25 was the pick of the three bowlers who claimed a wicket each.
The Scorchers will be looking to bounce back from their first-up defeat when they host Melbourne Renegades at the WACA Ground on Boxing Day.
