The Perth Scorchers have again shown their ability to keep opposition sides to low totals, bowling out the Adelaide Strikers for 112 before chasing the total down with 10 balls to spare.
Final score
Adelaide Strikers 112 all out
Perth Scorchers 4/114
The Perth Scorchers and Adelaide Strikers travel to Alice Springs in this round of the Big Bash League as the top two look to get one step closer to the finals. Join The Roar for live scores and commentary from 4:10pm (AEDT).
The cricket fans in Alice Springs are in for a treat this weekend as the Big Bash brings them a top of the table clash that should be an absolute belter. The Strikers are this season’s surprise package and sit on top of the table with a game in hand over the second place Scorchers. Win on Saturday and they can stretch their lead and get very close to guaranteeing themselves a place in the finals.
Strikers batsmen Alex Carey and Colin Ingram are both in the top ten run scorers in the League (interestingly the Strikers have no batsmen in the top 10 strike rates while the Scorchers have two with Turner and Agar).
The Strikers have achieved their success this season through a balanced side performing well in all departments. On the bowling side this has been led by Siddle and Khan who are proving to be some of the stingiest bowlers in the league this year conceding an average of just 5.7 and 5.21 runs per over respectively. Laughlin has also been key with 11 crucial wickets and the pace of Stanlake has caught many batsmen out.
Unfortunately for the Strikers they will be missing their captain – Travis Head has deservedly been called up to the Australian ODI squad and is preparing to face England. The Strikers might not miss his bowling too much – he’s conceding almost 10 runs per over in the six he’s bowled this season – but they will miss his runs. 187 runs from 148 balls in six innings has been very useful to the Strikers.
The Scorchers too will be missing their skipper but for slightly less positive reasons – Adam Voges has been suspended for one match due to a second slow over rate offence in this season. Apparently, the Scorchers were one over short in the game against the Thunder earlier this week after a similar error when they played the Heat on 5th January.
The good news is that Voges hasn’t really come alive yet in this year’s tournament with the bat scoring just 99 runs from his seven innings. But the Scorchers will miss his experience and Mitchell Johnson will be looking to step in and keep the Scorchers moving towards another finals series.
Despite a couple of losses this season, the Scorchers are living up to the pre-season hype. They are going about their business and both bowling and batting performances have been consistently good. Ideally, they’d probably like a few more runs but their bowling attack has been potent with Mitchell Johnson, Ashton Agar and Andrew Tye impressing.
Prediction
Some of the BBL’s best talent will be on display in this match and it promises to be a fantastic match. In most games the Scorchers play in they start as favourites and with the Strikers captain out of the picture the case for them is compelling.
But there’s something that’s impossible to ignore about this Strikers side and while they will miss Head’s runs and leadership, they still have plenty of in form talent that will take the field in Alice Springs.
Strikers to win this one and keep the dream alive!
Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match, starting from 4:10pm (AEDT).
TheCunningLinguistic
Guest
Can't wait to see him back in full swing, any WA side looks a lot stronger with him in it.
Alicesprings
Guest
Heat wasn't thee issue - wasn't that hot today! Only 33 if I'm correct. BBL dodge a real bullet as we've barely had a day below 40 for the last month. The killer was the humidity as a result of a dump of rain we had yesterday - was like begin in Darwin today. Conditions today wouldn't have been to different to those in the IPL.
Alicesprings
Guest
Great day at Traeger Park! Extremely fortunate to have BBL visit town. Disappointing turn out despite a heap off tourists and people visiting town for the game - way more than when the AFL comes to town. Unfortunately most the kids in town didn't know the game was on!
Don Freo
Guest
That was missing leg by a long way, maybe not off the bat but certainly not hitting. Siddle should be fined for dissent with his carry on.
Don Freo
Guest
In exciting news...perhaps for The Scorchers but certainly for the Warriors, Sam Whiteman played his first innings back today, opening for Freo. A nicely compiled 60. Not keeping yet.
Doctor Rotcod
Guest
At least the Scorchers get their last two games in Perth. They've travelled twice as far as any other team and won 6 of 8. Is Geoff suggesting that they're getting sympathy from the umpires? The Strikers now get one at home and two away,Renegades one at home,two away as do the Heat. The Hurricanes with four to play have three away and one at home, which might put paid to their chances
Oliver Matthews
Expert
Match Report The Perth Scorchers have beaten the Adelaide Strikers by 6 wickets in the Big Bash League at Traeger Park, Alice Springs in the clash of the top two teams in the league. At the start of the match there was a lot of excitement about these two teams coming together and the fireworks that should be on offer. In the end the game was very tame, partly down to some poor batting from the Strikers and partly down to a slow wicket. The Strikers will be annoyed at this performance and result. They lost the toss but started well with Carey and Weatherald putting on 49 in the first 6 overs for the opening partnership. It was looking like there could be a very decent score posted by the "home" side and the Scorchers must have been starting to worry. But the Strikers then lost 10 wickets for 63 runs and left themselves well short of a total that they could hope to defend. The wicket was tricky and many batsmen from both sides struggled with their timing but the Strikers never adapted. Instead of identifying that the bigger shots were harder to time, and looking to takes 1s and 2s from most balls, they persisted with trying to get the boundaries and came a cropper time and again. Agar, Bresnan and Kelly all bowled well in the circumstances and picked up wickets. Bresnan showed some nice changes of pace that had the tail enders swinging and missing a lot. While he didn't get the wickets, Johnson bowled well and helped put pressure on the Strikers. The Scorchers made things harder than they needed to and were at 4/43 after 8 overs. But when Cartwright and Agar came together they were able to play some good cricket - taking plenty of 1s and 2s and punishing the bad balls when they came around. A couple of free hits made things even harder for the Strikers. The first was especially frustrating as not only did they give away a free hit that Cartwright hit for six, but he had actually been caught off the no ball and for a second they thought they were back in the game. It was always going to be hard for the Strikers to defend such a low total and while they bowled pretty well - Rashid was good and bowled tightly - they needed to take wickets and this they struggled to do. Some might feel that the Strikers got the bad luck in the game - there was a very good appeal for caught behind on the Perth first ball turned down despite compelling evidence - and the two no balls cost them runs and a wicket. But the truth is that the Strikers never really made it hard for Perth. These two teams are both going to feature in the finals and they will be hard to beat but today the Scorchers were definitely the better side and got a deserved win to keep things tight at the top of the table. With this win they go back to the number one spot just above the Strikers. Thank you for joining me on The Roar's live coverage of the match and have a great rest of weekend.
steamingWilly
Guest
It was a stupid idea playing it during the day with the heat in Alice Springs with a pretend one off trophy. I have no problems with it being played their until the lights are upto the required standard for day/night ODIs.The fixturing is stupid with having to wait for these 2 teams to finally play each other towards the end of the tournament.
Haydos
Guest
I'm sure Adelaide would've preferred to have their home game in front of an extra 35k fans in Adelaide. Do they have any control over this fixture being held in Alice Springs?
haMISH
Guest
Yeah right...............................
Oliver Matthews
Expert
End of Innings In the end it was an easy win for the Perth Scorchers - they have beaten the Adelaide Strikers by 6 wickets in Alice Springs and get one step closer to the finals Match report to follow Over: 18.2 Score: 4/114
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Guest
Very average game to watch. The wicket was very poor. Great location but tough conditions to bat in.
Oliver Matthews
Expert
FOUR! That's it! Cartwright launches a nice off drive over the infield and it gets him to 47 not out and the Perth Scorchers have won by 6 wickets Over: 18.2 Score: 4/114
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Guest
Some pretty poor umpiring calls in this innings. No way that was a no ball fro Laughlin, Klinger should have been given out first ball and Siddle had a plum LBW given not out. Umpies must be backing the Scorchers.
Oliver Matthews
Expert
Neser on for his final over and maybe the last over of the match Cartwright on strike......but he misses this one as it goes between his legs and no run! 3 runs needed from 11 balls Over: 18.1 Score: 4/110
Oliver Matthews
Expert
Eight from the over from Laughlin and the match is staggering towards a Perth win 3 runs needed from 12 balls Over: 17.6 Score: 4/110
Oliver Matthews
Expert
Just two with this free hit but they are now just 3 runs away 3 runs needed from 13 balls Over: 17.5 Score: 4/110
Oliver Matthews
Expert
Another no ball and another free hit for the Scorchers! They could do it with this ball 5 runs needed from 13 balls Over: 17.4 Score: 4/108
Oliver Matthews
Expert
A good yorker but Cartwright digs it out and into the gap on the leg side for 2 more 7 runs needed from 15 balls Over: 17.3 Score: 4/106
Oliver Matthews
Expert
Laughlin in - can he make something special happen?? Well it was almost a catching chance at cover but it dropped short 11 runs needed from 17 balls Over: 17.1 Score: 4/102