Leg-spinner Lloyd Pope has earned redemption while late inclusion D’Arcy Short also starred as the Adelaide Strikers beat early-season strugglers Melbourne Stars by 15 runs at Adelaide Oval.
Short wasn’t scheduled to play but was called up on Friday after a calf niggle sidelined Chris Lynn and he responded by smashing 60 off 42 balls.
The only meaningful support for Short came from Alex Ross (35 off 26), as the Strikers made 6-165 in their first home game of the campaign.
Opener Sam Harper (48 off 44) then kept the Stars in the game, but big hitters Marcus Stoinis (27 off 19) and Glenn Maxwell (15 off five) produced blistering cameos rather than a major innings.
They finished short on 9-150 and slumped to 0-3, having lost six successive BBL games across the last year, while Adelaide improved to 1-1.
It was the first time in six matches this season that the team batting first ended up winning.
Adelaide’s spin trio took four of the first five wickets and six all up, with Pope (3-21 off four) spearheading their attack.
Pope showed great resilience after suffering the indignity of leaking 31 runs in a match-tilting death-over in the Strikers' first-game loss to the Thunder in Canberra three nights earlier.
“There was some pretty nasty things out there on social media but that's just the way cricket goes,” Pope told Fox cricket.
"You ride the highs and lows but I’m just trying to keep it even.”
Pope took the key wicket of Harper and was well backed up by fellow legspinner Cameron Boyce (1-31 off four) and captain and finger spinner Matt Short (2-23 off three).
“We were always going to back him (Pope) again even after that over last week, he’s a ripper to have around the team,” Matt Short said.
Maxwell, who played his first BBL game of the season, threatened to take control of the match, after reverse sweeps for six off his second and third balls off Boyce.
But excellent paceman Henry Thornton (2-16 off four) trapped him lbw, backing up his spin trio superbly.
The game also produced one of the best catches in BBL history, with English star Ben Duckett taking a wonderful leaping right-handed snare at extra cover to dismiss D’Arcy Short.
That was the sole highlight of Duckett’s night as the Test opener was lbw for a golden duck off the third ball of the innings bowled by Matthew Short.
All bar two of D'Arcy Short’s first 28 runs came from boundaries, adding one six to five fours.
“I think he (D’Arcy Short) was on the golf course when he got the call from Painey (Strikers head coach Tim Paine) saying Lynny was out of the team,” Matt Short said.
“I had a scan there, I don’t think there’s too much damage,” Lynn told Fox Cricket and was hopeful he could face former club Brisbane Heat on Sunday.
The Strikers' England batter Ollie Pope made just eight off 10 balls before being caught behind off a poor attempted ramp.
The Stars' 40-year-old Australia paceman Peter Siddle (2-21 off 4) bowled a typically tidy spell.
