Team: Adelaide Strikers
City: Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Ground: Adelaide Oval
Number of Titles: 1
Who Are the Adelaide Strikers?
The Adelaide Strikers were formed to 2011 to play in the BBL. The franchise is based in Adelaide, South Australia and they typically play in a blue kit. They play their home matches at the Adelaide Oval, which has a capacity of more than 53,000. The team is currently coached by former Australian fast bowler Jason Gillespie and captained by current Australia player Travis Head.
The Strikers have had some of the biggest names in T20 cricket previously and currently playing for them. Including the likes of Kieron Pollard from the West Indies who played for them between 2012/13 to 2016/17 and current overseas player and Afghanistan international Rashid Khan since 2017/18.
One of the most important matches of the Strikers season is their New Years Eve match. Since BBL03, the Strikers have held a match on December 31st against different oppositions. Up until BBL08 the Strikers maintained an unbeaten record for this fixture going 6 and 0. However, they were unfortunately beaten in BBL09 by Sydney Thunder in a tight affair, only losing by 3 runs. The first NYE fixture was arguably the most memorable with Adelaide beating the Sydney Sixers after a blistering hundred by Travis Head.
The BBL History of Adelaide Strikers
The Adelaide Strikers had a slow start to the BBL as they were unable to make it past the group stages for the first three years of the competition. However, since then they have an extremely consistent team making it beyond the group stages on 6 out of the following 8 occasions.
It started in the 2014-15 season when the Strikers finished the group stages in 1st position, only losing 1 game, but they were unfortunately knocked out in the semi-final by the Sydney Sixers. It was an almost identical season for them in 2015-16, but they were knocked-out by other Sydney based side, the Sydney Thunder.
However, Adelaide’s time eventually came in 2017-18. They finished the group stages in 2nd place. The Strikers then managed to win a nervy semi-final beating the Melbourne Renegades by just 1 run. They then went to go on to win the final more comfortably beating the Hobart Hurricanes by 25 runs and Jake Weatherald starred scoring 115 off 75 balls.
The Strikers have not been able to replicate their success since 2017-18. They have made it beyond the group stage in the previous 3 years of the tournament from 2019 but have not been able to make it back to the final.
Who Holds the Adelaide Strikers Records?
The Adelaide Strikers have been blessed with some exciting Australian talent in their batting department. Jake Wetherald, is the franchises leading run-scorer with 1,721 runs from 68 matches and his 115 of 70 balls in the 2017-18 final remains the franchises highest core. Weatherald has been ably supported by current Australian international players Alex Carey (1,588 runs) and Travis Head (1,349 runs), with the latter being the only player to have 2 BBL centuries to his name for the Strikers.
In the bowling department, Rashid Khan, the Afghanistan leg-spinner, who plays franchise cricket all around the world, has been the Strikers most successful bowler, taking 81 wickets in 55 matches. He also has best match figures of 6-17 but amazingly this is only second best for the franchise with New Zealand leg spinner Ish Sodhi, taking best match figures of 6-11. Former Australian fast bowlers Peter Siddle and Ben Laughlin have also been extremely successful, taking 61 and 60 wickets, respectively.
