Strikers make Short work of Scorchers to stay alive

Adelaide captain Matt Short led the way as his side pulled off the upset of the KFC BBL season, crushing the previously unbeaten Scorchers by nine wickets at Adelaide Oval.

The Strikers had lost their past four games, but chased down the Scorchers score' of 7-153 with 23 balls to spare to move off the bottom off the ladder.

Short (76 not out off 51 balls) and Chris Lynn (50 not out off 33)  put on 98 for the second wicket after the captain and D'Arcy Short (24 off 13) blasted 58 off the first 4.5 overs.

The Scorchers remained second, three points behind the ladder-leading Brisbane Heat with a game in hand.

The leading run-scorer in this season's BBL, Australian T20 and ODI representative Short notched his fifth half-century of the season, hitting seven fours and four sixes.

It could have been very different, Short was dropped off the very first ball of the run chase as he edged a delivery from Jason Behrendorff that went through the fingertips of Jhye Richardson on the edge of the circle at third.

Short also played a part with the ball, conceding just 11 runs from his three overs and dismissing Sam Whiteman with the second ball of the Scorchers' innings.

Two days after leaking 211 to the Scorchers in Perth,  Adelaide opted to field an extra spinner, bringing in leg-spinner Lloyd Pope for a franchise debut.

Taking pace off the ball paid off, with the spinners bowling 11 overs and taking three of the first four wickets, and the Scorchers notching just six fours to supplement their seven sixes.

Three batters got a start, but no Scorcher reached 40 as Perth notched their lowest score of the season.\

Josh Inglis (39 off 25) and captain Aaron Hardie (35 off 27) hit two and three sixes respectively in  their 60-run third wicket partnership, but both were caught off Pope (2-36 off four.)

Laurie Evans, who smashed 85 off 28 balls in the Scorchers' win over the Strikers on Wednesday, was contained to six off his first 10 deliveries on Friday.

Evans (29 off 21) didn't get his strike rate up to 100 until his 13th ball.

KFC BBL|13 standings

Team	Matches played M	Wins W	Losses L	Ties T	No results N/R	Net Run Rate NRR	Deductions Ded.	Total points PTS
1 Brisbane Heat Men HEA	10	7	1	0	2	0.972	0	16
2 Sydney Sixers Men SIX	10	6	2	0	2	0.339	0	14
3 Perth Scorchers Men SCO	10	6	3	0	1	0.725	0	13
4 Adelaide Strikers Men STR	10	5	4	0	1	0.331	0	11
5 Hobart Hurricanes Men HUR	10	4	6	0	0	-0.268	0	8
6 Melbourne Stars Men STA	10	4	6	0	0	-1.051	0	8
7 Melbourne Renegades Men REN	10	2	6	0	2	-0.288	0	6
8 Sydney Thunder Men THU	10	1	7	0	2	-0.652	0	4

Legend

M: Matches played

W: Wins

L: Losses

T: Ties

N/R: No results

NRR: Net Run Rate

Ded.: Deductions

PTS: Total points

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