I went to watch todays BBL game at Optus Stadium ( Perth Scorchers vs Adelaide Strikers), which was last game for Scorchers at home. I was not too keen initially given the poor run of Scorchers in this BBL season, but deep inside wanted to see them do better and support them. To my surprise , Scorchers fans turned up in big numbers and it was an electric atmosphere. Icing on the cake was a favourable result of, Melbourne Renegades win against defending Champions “Brisbane Heat”, just before the Scorchers game started.
Strikers batted first and had amazing first 6 overs with a run rate well above 10. Scorchers, however continued taking wickets at regular intervals and restricted Strikers to final target of 162 to win . Scorchers needed to chase this target down in 18 overs or less to increase their run rate in order to make to final 4 with favourable result of tomorrows Stars vs Canes game. M Beardman and Behrendorff were the pick of bowlers claiming 3 wickets each.
Scorchers started well , but lost Finn Allen again cheaply after hitting couple of boundaries. Aaron Hardie scored handy boundaries but was involved in run out with Sam Fanning second time in consecutive games. Hardie scored 28 of 17 before getting stumped off Darcy Short’s spin. Then came the local favourite boy Cooper Connolly who stabilised the ship with Nick Hobson ( The duo brought few memories of famous BBL final win ), before Hobson got out LBW off Matt Short. Connolly continued his aggressive hitting along with aggressive running and sensible run a ball game. He hit total of 4 sixes tonight and making 39 off 21 balls including 2 consecutive sixes on last balls of the innings. Connolly made sure Scorchers won with run rate margin that they needed. They chased 162 in 16.2 overs.
All eyes are on tomorrow’s game between Hurricanes and Melbourne Stars. If Hurricanes wins the match , Scorchers have done enough to go through the final four. Today’s performance by Scorchers will look thousand times better if tomorrow’s result comes in their favour. If Stars win tomorrow’s game it will be only 3rd time in BBL history that Scorchers have not made to top 4. Regardless of results tomorrow , tonights game was well supported by Scorchers fans creating an electric atmosphere at Optus that will be remembered for long time. A loss tonight would have caused a heartbreak for fans , so Thank you Perth Scorchers for giving fans something to cheer about. It was a perfect evening to watch cricket at Optus.
