What a shock. Forget Big Bash, this knock was one of the most special innings the 47,000 fans at Adelaide Oval and countless TV viewers will ever witness on a cricket field. 101 runs off 53 deliveries. 56 runs off the last 15 balls. Nine sixes - including seven off his last 14 deliveries. The first Striker to ever make a century in BBL history, and all of it to win the match with just three balls remaining in front of a packed-out Adelaide Oval. You can’t write this stuff.
2. Lehmo delivers
His first match was actually against the Scorchers on January 5, but so strong was the form of our top-order that first-year signing Lehmann didn’t get a bat until two matches later against the Hurricanes on January 13. However what the moustached middle-order bat lacked in quantity he more than made up for in quality, smashing this beauty off his first ball (and the final delivery of the match!) to claim a thrilling win in front of another sold out home crowd.
3. Trav turns the game on it’s Head
He dominated the Big Bash with the bat all season, but after making a duck in the first innings against the Renegades, Trav clearly wasn’t content to just fade into the background. Taking the ball in the fourth over with the Renegades already 1/53 and Chris Gayle on the precipice of recording the fastest-ever fifty, Head altered the entire flow of the match with the two huge wickets of White and Bravo, followed by Gayle himself in his next over to finish with figures of 3/16 from his two overs and secure his third man-of-the-match award.
4. Rossy gets horizontal against the Sixers
‘Catch of the season’ gets bandied about almost every other match in a league as fast-paced and exciting as the Big Bash, but when the commentators reacted to this ridiculous diving effort from Ross they weren’t overhyping it.
Sprinting thirty metres in the deep and timing his leap to perfection, Ross reeled in a critical half-chance to send Lumb packing and claim the first wicket of the night just as the Sixers were starting to gather momentum. The effort drew comparisons to Glenn McGrath’s famous effort against the Poms in 2002, but for what it’s worth, we thought this was even better.
5. Mahela makes fifty on one leg
We all know Mahela Jayawardena is a class act. The Sri Lankan legend has all the shots in the book, and an elegance that belies the difficulty of some of the strokes he plays. But what Strikers fans may not have realised before our match against the Heat was how tough and competitive the little master still is.
Pulling up lame after a quick single in our chase of 176, Mahela was clearly in serious discomfort with 132 runs left to chase. However rather than succumb to the injury, Jayawardena gritted his teeth and played on to record a critical half-century off just 30 balls and set the Strikers up for their third consecutive win. What a champion.