Perth Scorchers have slipped up for the first time in defence of their title.
Left to count the cost of dropping Adelaide Strikers captain Matt Short off the first ball of their innings, the Scorchers had their poor score of 154 chased down in just 16.1 overs.
Short hit an unbroken 76 in the bottom-placed Strikers’ nine-wicket demolition — the Scorchers’ first defeat of the season.
It brings to an end a 10-game unbeaten run for the two-time reigning champions that dated back to before last year’s finals.
Adelaide wanted pace off the ball, and it worked immediately. Short opened the bowling with himself and used a review after Zak Crawley fluffed a sweep. He had opening partner Sam Whiteman out second ball when he gloved one back onto the stumps.
The touch Crawley had when he smoked 65 against Hobart two weeks ago has completely dissipated. He caught the inside-edge and chunked balls to the outfield. His only boundary came when he dragged a Henry Thornton ball through mid-wicket — only to be cleaned bowled with the next one.
With two wickets lost in the power-play, Aaron Hardie and Josh Inglis had to build from the ground up. They tried desperately to hit Lloyd Pope and Cameron Boyce to the short 57 metre boundary, but the wily spinners protected it well.
Hardie powered a ball over mid-wicket for six and Inglis’ footwork meant he helped himself to a boundary through the off-side, but the middle overs were tough going.
Both batters rode their luck with balls that parachuted into the out-field and a pair of lbw shouts.
Hardie hit his third six to the short boundary, which worried Pope into a wide, but the recalled leg-spinner had him caught in the deep for 35 with his next ball.
Inglis hit one more sublime six inside-out over cover, but exposed the middle-order when he mistimed a slog-sweep and Adam Hose took a nice diving catch to remove him for a team-high 39.
Fresh off one of the greatest knocks in club history, Evans was well-restricted by the Strikers. They took the power-surge early in Cooper Connolly’s innings and before Evans had struck a boundary.
It brought about the boost they needed. Connolly pulled away Jamie Overton for four and Evans pummeled him down the ground for six. The pair hit 25 from the two overs.
Enjoying pace on the ball, Evans carved away Thornton for a tracer-bullet four through covers, but was troubled by Boyce’s use of the wrong-un, which made it hard to access the short side. Trying everything to make it happen, Evans was caught playing a reverse-sweep for 29 off 21 balls.
Connolly and Ashton Agar went 24 balls without a boundary. Both were caught by Overton at long-on during David Payne’s final over, before Andrew Tye broke the drought with a last-ball six.
The kings of defending came close to the perfect start. Jhye Richardson dropped Matt Short at short-third off Jason Behrendorff’s first delivery of the innings.
He lived his second life to the fullest. After a close direct-hit run-out chance Short pulled Richardson for four and hit lifted Behrendorff for six over deep square with ease in a destructive power-play that forced them to call on Agar under restrictions for the first time this season.
Their sole frontline spinner was parked over the short boundary three times by D’Arcy Short in an over taken for 21. It left them 0-55 — the largest power-play for any side this season.
The pace of Lance Morris split the opening partners when D’Arcy Short picked out Laurie Evans in the deep trying to pull a bumper on 24.
Chris Lynn hit two boundaries off Tye’s first over and both he and Short took a liking to Morris’ heat on a wicket that didn’t give him the same zip as his home turf.
Short lifted a monstrous six over deep-backward in a Morris over that went for 13, lifting their total to 1-100 at the half-way mark, with the required run-rate already at a run-a-ball.
His 50 came off 31 balls and he bashed his 32nd deep into the stands in a Richardson over that went for 15.
With the heat off, Short turned to some delightful textbook shots, while Lynn’s best stroke was a lightning-fast pull shot that sent a Morris delivery into the second-tier.
Lynn’s own half-century came off 33 balls.
Adelaide jump from eighth to six with the victory. They did not take the power-surge despite facing the prospect of having their fate settled by net run-rate.