Matt Short’s outstanding KFC BBL|13 season has earned him the honour of being named captain of the Team of the Tournament, an outstanding accolade in only his first season as captain of the Adelaide Strikers.
Short finished as the season’s leading run-scorer for the second consecutive year, making six half-centuries and over 200 runs more than the next highest run-scorer – his first-drop Chris Lynn.
Scoring 509 runs in nine innings at an average of 72.71 and with a strike-rate of 153.78, Short has now made the most runs by a Striker in a single season, as well as becoming the first man in BBL history to score four scores of 70+ in one season.
Joining their captain in the Team was all-rounder Jamie Overton at six, Lynn at the top of the order and spinner Cameron Boyce at 11.
In his first season in the Big Bash, Overton quickly impressed, taking 16 wickets to be the equal leading wicket-taker in the competition, while also making 85 runs at an average of 42.5, with a strike-rate of 139.34.
Whilst he played a number of crucial innings with the bat, it was the Englishman’s bowling that really made him standout in his debut season – often having economical Power Play and Surge overs and finishing with best figures of 3-23.
Despite his season ending early with a hamstring strain, Lynn still made 304 runs in seven innings, at an average of 60.8 and with a strike-rate of 164.32 to be the competition’s second highest run-scorer.
During BBL|13, Lynn became the first player in the Big Bash to hit 200 sixes, with one of 45 boundaries bringing up the milestone.
Boyce had his best season as a Striker, taking nine wickets, but it was his economy that made him standout from the rest of the bowlers.
He went two straight games without conceding a single boundary, taking 2-13 and 2-17 in consecutive matches to pile on the pressure that helped his fellow bowlers snag wickets.
Another impressive milestone that fell during BBL|13 was Boyce taking his 100th wicket in the competition, becoming the 10th player to reach the feat and only the second spin bowler.
The efforts of Short, Overton, Lynn and Boyce surged the Strikers into the final series, with them set to face the Perth Scorchers in the Knockout Final on Saturday, January 20.
First ball at Optus Stadium will be at 7:10pm ACDT, with Strikers fans able to watch live on Channel 7 Adelaide, Kayo Sports and Foxtel.