Opening batters crowned Strikers MVPs

Opening batters have swept the 2023/24 Strikers Most Valuable Player Awards, with Katie Mack earning the WBBL MVP in a Championship winning year and BBL captain Matt Short becoming the first male Striker to win three consecutive MVP awards.

It is the second time Mack has won Adelaide’s WBBL WVP, having also been crowned in WBBL|07.

Mack made 452 runs with a strike rate of 118.64 during WBBL|09, topping the Strikers run scorers tally and sitting sixth on the tournaments run scorer list.

The right-hander made three half-centuries in WBBL|09 with a high score of 86 and that earned her three Player of the Match awards throughout the season.

Her impressive tournament not only helped the Strikers to back-to-back Championships, but personally earned her second in the Player of the Tournament voting, as well as selection in her first WBBL Team of the Tournament.

Short’s win is no surprise, with the skipper having been named Player of the Tournament for the entire BBL|13 competition.

It was the second consecutive year he earned that award for being the tournament’s leading run scorer, again for the season year in a row.

Making over 170 more runs that the next highest batter, Short became the first man in BBL history to score four scores of 70+ in one season.

In total, he made 541 runs in 11 innings – the most runs by a Striker in a single season – at an average of 60.11, with a strike-rate of 153.26 and a high score of 82.

Named captain of the BBL|13 Team of the Tournament, Short also contributed with the ball, taking five wickets and in the field, taking six catches.

Also recognised at SACA’s Dansie McCauley Medal night were Bridget Patterson and Cameron Boyce, who finished runners up in the voting.

A mainstay of the Strikers line up since WBBL|01, Patterson took on a new challenge in WBBL|09 and thrived.

She took the wicketkeeping gloves and quickly impressed, finishing with a competition high 21 dismissals, the most by a Striker in a WBBL season.

Patterson also had a number of match-winning knocks at number four, making 304 runs and earning two Player of the Match awards.

Boyce took 14 wickets in BBL|13, but it was his economy that made him standout from the rest of the bowlers and earned him a position in the Team of the Tournament.

At one stage in the competition, Boyce went two straight games without conceding a boundary, taking 2-13 and 2-17 in consecutive matches – one of those wickets being his 100^th in the competition, making him just the 10^th player to reach that feat.

Rounding out the top three of the voting was WBBL|08 MVP Megan Schutt (22 wickets) and first-year international recruit Jamie Overton (16 wickets) respectively.

Amanda-Jade Wellington was also recognised on the night, taking home the WBBL Bowling Award for her 23 wickets.