Adelaide Strikers vice-captain Alex Carey finally showed his true potential as he led from the front in a must-win game for the team as the Strikers beat Brisbane Heat by a huge margin of 82 runs to keep their hopes of reaching the BBL 2020-21 Playoffs alive. Paceman Wes Agar was equally up to the task as he picked up four crucial wickets to dismantle the Heat’ chase completely, even before it got going.
Chasing a gigantic total of 198, the Heat trying to get off to a flyer lost an important wicket of skipper Chris Lynn, and from there onwards, Marnus Labuschagne and Joe Denly tried to build a partnership but one of Wes Agar saw the back of both the batsmen. From there onwards there was no recovery at all as the Heat kept on losing wickets at regular intervals, eventually bundling out for a meager 115 in the 18th over.
Agar finished with the figures of 4/27 to become the joint highest wicket-taker in the tournament, tied with Jhye Richardson at 21 wickets. Apart from him, Peter Siddle got three wickets while the rest of the bowlers used in the game too picked up a wicket each.
Earlier in the day, Strikers skipper Travis Head won the toss and decided to bat first. His decision was backed up by Carey and Jake Weatherald as they got the team off in a hurry, scoring 66 in the first six overs without losing a wicket. But Waeetherald soon got out. However Carey, 29, continued and the second hundred of his t20 career, as he got out on 101 off 62 balls.
But before getting out, he had taken Strikers to a total which was most certainly winnable. For the Heat part-time leg spinner, Marnus Labuschagne picked up two wickets.
With this victory, the Blue Brigade has now rushed to the fourth position in the Points Table with an equal number of points as Thunder, Scorchers, and Stars. The best part of the game apart from the batting and bowling brilliance was the Michael Neser catch to remove the last Heat wicket.
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