BBL 2020-21: Eliminator, HEA vs STR – Rare win for Brisbane over the Strikers, Labuschagne’s bowling show and more stats

Brisbane Heat moved a step closer towards the final as they edged past Adelaide Strikers in the home Eliminator. The Strikers were kept in check by some tight bowling from the home team. The likes of Mitchell Swepson and Marnus Labuschagne collectively took five wickets across 7 overs conceding only 36 runs as the Strikers ended up with 130/7. Despite losing three wickets inside the first four overs, the home side got over the line with the contributions from Jimmy Pierson (47* off 44) and Joe Denly (41 off 40).

Here are all the statistical highlights from Brisbane Heat’s 6-wicket victory during the HEA vs STR game:

Rare win for Brisbane over the Strikers:

3 – Brisbane Heat ended their 3-match losing spree in the BBL against Adelaide Strikers with the 6-wicket win on Friday. This was also only the 6th win across 14 meetings for the Brisbane franchise against the Strikers in the BBL.

2 – Adelaide Strikers lost only twice in seven appearances at Brisbane’s Gabba stadium in BBL. Their other defeat against Brisbane at the Gabba came during the 2019-20 season where Strikers got bowled out for 110 due to James Pattinson’s 5-wicket haul.

Labuschagne’s back to back game-changing spells:

3/13 – The bowling figures of 3/13 by Marnus Labuschagne during the HEA vs STR game are his best in the T20 format going past the 3/35 he recorded during the last league match against the Scorchers. Labuschagne now has claimed 9 wickets in the space of four matches in the BBL 2020-21. Marnus had picked only one wicket across 10 T20s he played before this tournament.

End of a record season for Siddle:

19 – Number of wickets that Peter Siddle bagged throughout the BBL 2020-21; the joint 2nd most by any player in a BBL edition for the Adelaide Strikers. Wes Agar extended his current season tally of 22 wickets to occupy the top spot by going past Rashid Khan (2018-19 and 2019-20) and Siddle (2019-20) himself took 19 wickets apiece in a BBL season.

Weatherald’s best BBL season:

433 – Jake Weatherald’s 433 runs in BBL 2020-21 are the most by him in a BBL edition surpassing the 407 runs he scored in the last edition. The tally of 433 runs by Weatherald is also the 3rd highest in a BBL edition by any player for the Adelaide Strikers behind Jonathan Wells’ 478 runs in 2019-20 and Alex Carey’s 443-run aggregate in the 2017-18 season.

Salt @ 2000 runs:

152.49 – The batting strike rate of Phil Salt is the highest for any Englishman with 2000+ runs in the Twenty20 format. This is also the 6th highest batting strike rate for any player to have scored 2000+ T20 runs. Salt completed 2000 runs in the T20 cricket when he went past his individual score of 7 during HEA vs STR game.

Slow knocks that cost the Strikers:

1 – Alex Carey (13 off 22 @ 59.09) and Travis Head (12 off 21 @ 57.14) became the first pair to have a strike rate under 60 after facing 20+ balls in the same BBL innings. This is also only the 2nd BBL game where two players have faced 20+ balls and have a strike rate below 60.

Alex Carey for Strikers (11 off 26 @ 42.31) and Ashton Turner for Scorchers (24 off 46 @ 52.17) had a strike rate under 60 even after playing 25+ balls during the 2018-19 season at the Perth Stadium.

Carey falls short of a new record:

14 – Alex Carey ended the 2020-21 BBL with 14 dismissals as a wicketkeeper; the joint-most by him in an edition of the BBL. Carey affected as many as 14 dismissals in the 2017-18 season as well while Jimmy Pierson also had 14 dismissals during the 2019-20 season. The 14 dismissals were the most by a keeper in a BBL edition until Josh Philippe surpassed it with 15 dismissals in the ongoing season.