BACK TO BACK! Strikers edge out Heat as WBBL final goes down to final ball
The Strikers are back-to-back WBBL champions after defeating the Brisbane Heat by three runs in a pulsating final for the ages at Adelaide Oval.
Three hours of enthralling, intense action came down to the last ball with the Heat needing five runs to win, but Nicola Hancock couldn’t get hold of Amanda-Jade Wellington’s clutch delivery with Adelaide players celebrating wildly.
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It was a fitting end to an utterly enthralling run chase.
The Heat needed 20 runs off the remaining 12 balls, but Megan Schutt went straight through skipper Jess Jonassen with the first ball of the 19th over to make it 6-106, with Amelia Kerr and Georgia Voll at the crease.
Kerr eased the pressure with a superb boundary, but the visitors needed 13 off the final over bowled by Wellington.
Two singles to start the over had Voll swinging wildly, but she only succeeded in skying the ball to Madeline Penna.
Mikayla Hinkley belted a straight six then was then superbly caught by Jemma Barby barely inside the rope to set up the stunning final-ball finale.
The fascinating clash between the Heat’s vaunted batting line-up and Adelaide’s star bowling attack played out in front of a bumper crowd of 12,379 fans.
It was the second-highest in WBBL history and the highest recorded in South Australia.
Laura Wolvaardt top-scored with 39, with Tahlia McGrath making a quickfire 38 after winning the bat flip.
A fiery spell from Hancock, who finished with 3-23 from her four overs, was pivotal for the Heat, who did well to restrict Adelaide in the back half of the innings.
OPENERS OUT
The Strikers needed early wickets if they were to defend the modest total, but the dangerous Grace Harris was dropped on 13 in the fourth over.
The opener had already deftly ramped two boundaries before she received a life off the bowling of Darci Brown when a diving Madeline Penna got two hands to the ball at first slip but put the sharp chance down.
However, the drop didn’t haunt the home side, Harris holing out to Katie Mack at deep mid-wicket with the score 1-32.
Both openers were gone when Georgia Redmayne departed in the eighth over with the score 2-43.
McGRATH MAGIC
The visitors would have felt reasonably comfortable with how their run chase was progressing at 2-62 after 12 overs, but McGrath swung the momentum back in her side’s favour in two balls.
McGrath made a mess of Mignon du Preez’s stumps with the first delivery of the 13th over and was on a hat-trick when she did the same to power hitter Laura Harris.
The Heat needed 45 runs off the remaining five overs at 4-81 and Adelaide spurned two golden opportunities to turn up the pressure in the 16th over bowled by Anesu Mushangwe.
Charli Knott was dropped by Katie Mack on the rope and Bridget Patterson missed a simple stumping opportunity to the relief of Amelia Kerr.
TAHLIA ATTACK
The Strikers’ innings got off to a shaky start after McGrath won the bat flip with their leading run scorer Mack departing cheaply, the opener dismissed for three runs in the second over when she chopped a Nicola Hancock delivery onto her leg stump.
But that brought McGrath to the crease and the skipper quickly set about laying a solid foundation.
McGrath got off the mark with the first four of the innings and flayed the attack to all parts, with six fours and a superb six as she raced to 38 off 34 balls.
McGrath shared a quickfire 50-run partnership off 34 balls with Laura Wolvaardt, but was shaken in the 10th over when a top edge smashed into her helmet.
After a short break to receive medical treatment, Hancock won the enthralling battle between bowler and batter when she clipped the top of off-stump to send McGrath on her way.
TURNING UP THE HEAT
That fiery 10th over from Hancock proved to be a momentum-changer, the Strikers managing just 54 runs in their final 10 overs.
Wolvaardt had been the junior partner in the 65-run partnership with McGrath, but the opener advanced to 39 runs, with four fours, after the skipper’s departure.
The home side was well-placed at 2-71 after 10 overs, but the Heat was able to put the brakes on the run rate with some outstanding bowling.
Five dot balls in a row had Wolvaardt dancing down the pitch to Jess Jonassen, but the crafty skipper shot the ball through to Georgia Redmayne who whipped off the bails.
Wickets fell regularly from there, Bridget Patterson (11) was the only batter to make it into double figures, the Strikers managing just 11 runs and losing two wickets during their two Power Surge overs.