View from the stands...
With the bat the Strikers were disappointing as well with Weatherald, Head (though he had the right idea, just went way too hard at it) and Ingram all getting themselves in with a start and then unnecessarily throwing it away after we'd already lost early wickets. Wells looked to get a decent one that spat up at him and Lehmann was never settled, dropped twice early and I'd be considering a change for Jono Dean if it were my decision.
Neser's innings will be underrated as to how good it was. He literally carried the Strikers to 147 when we were discussing 120 as being an interesting score to defend. Once Yasir and Swepson had completed their overs, i felt that Brisbane missed a trick by not giving Burns another go and keeping some pace off the ball. Neser took a liking to the quicker pace and none of them seemed to vary their pace to him. Siddle's effort between the wickets should be noted toi, he ran hard and with complete disregard for his own numbers to keep Neser on strike.
So the Strikers went in with a defendable 147 on the board and a lot of the momentum.
The Strikers needed early wickets and that's what they got. From the opening over the wickets just continued to fall regularly and the Heat went cold very quickly. Lynn got a bad one but the way the innings went i would suggest that the team as a whole can't complain much about it. McCullum i thought was setting himself to have a crack at an unlikely result late until he holed out at deep mid on. Maybe he misjudged it, i don't know but from there the Strikers were are sure thing.
Brisbane's batsman just seemed uncomfortable on what appeared to be a slow wicket and Adelaide's attack is good enough to expose that.
The Strikers attack is balanced nicely and suits the Adelaide Oval well. I believe only Perth has a better attack. Rashid Khan is going to be a very special player and has gotten a lot of Afghani's into the game of cricket in this city. They love him! As we all do. The Strikers need to always have a 'Rashid' in the line up to be successful lol.
Siddle, Laughlin and Neser all have the ability to hit areas consistently and mix up their pace as well as Laughlin being a wicket magnet!
Stanlake was delivering balls at 150k/hr and at 7 foot tall, will be back in the Australian set up soon enough. He appears stronger this year and it's showing in his bowling.
And having Head and Ingram capable of churning out a couple overs allows Head to be proactive with his main 5 bowlers and mix them up.
Strikers go to 3-0 now, back on top of the table (i assume?) while Brisbane find their season at the cross roads, sitting 2-2 with the Thunder.
And the gf loved it. She's enjoying the shorter format and is keen to come to the other two fixtures which is great considering that both games have been pretty one sided so far.
Huge game for the Thunder tonight R20 and i tip that they'll wake up tomorrow in the top 4.