BBL 7, Match 9 Review: Adelaide Strikers win a thrilling contest as Sixers go down third time

The Sydney Sixers slumped to their third consecutive defeat against the Adelaide Strikers in a close game which went down almost to the last ball after losing by a thin margin of 6 runs. Sixers captain Moises Henriques ruled out due to illness was replaced by experienced campaigner Johan Botha as the stand-in captain who decided to send the Strikers in to bat first after winning the toss.

Sam Billings was handed the gloves after wicketkeeper Peter Nevill was replaced by an extra bowler in William Somerville. The Adelaide Strikers enjoyed a terrible start to their innings losing out on opener Jake Weatherald for a duck.

Travis Head and Alex Carey stitched together an amazing partnership till the 8th over leading the Strikers to a score of 58 before Head succumbed against opposing captain Johan Botha. Alex Carey played a delightful knock of 83 in just 59 deliveries with 8 boundaries and 2 sixes leading the Strikers on to a score of 167-3 in 20 overs with an aggressive show of 33 (19) in the last few overs by Jonathan Wells further tilting the score to a defendable one.

Daniel Sams was once again the pick of the bowlers for the Sixers finishing wicketless for 29 runs while Dwarshuis was the highest wicket-taker though the most expensive with figures of 2/41.

Rashid emerges as the match-winner yet again

Afghanistan based teen sensation Rashid Khan proved to be the game-changer yet again for the Strikers swooping the crucial wickets of Jordan Silk and formidable batsman Sam Billings at crucial intervals while leaking just 22 runs in his 4 overs at an amazing economy rate of 5.5.

The Sixers never seemed to be in a position to chase down this steep total against the effective bowling trio of Peter Siddle, Rashid and Ben Laughlin losing wickets at regular intervals.

Jordan emerged as the highest run-scorer for the Sixers with a mature knock of 50 runs in 32 balls after the likes of Roy, Hughes, Maddinson surrendered their wickets meekly for scores even lower than 25 when combined. Sam Billings’s failure has hurt the Sixers a lot this season with the batsman left in a state of confusion and despair against the guile of Rashid Khan.

Johan Botha and Steve O’Keefe tried to attempt a late charge down the order in order to lead the side on to a win but to no avail. With the Sixers needing 16 runs in the last over, Michael Neser the all-rounder was handed the responsibility of defending the total. A six off the first delivery seemed to be an indication of this being a wrong decision but Neser brought his side back into the game conceding just 4 runs in the next 4 balls and dismissed Steve O’Keefe off the last ball to win the game for his side.