Twitter Reactions: All-round effort from the Adelaide Strikers pushes Renegades below in the table

Adelaide Strikers having won 6 games from their 9 are already through to the playoffs while the Melbourne Renegades are in a place where they need to make their position clear with the other two sides, Brisbane Heat and Sydney Thunder.

Both the sides were shuffled a bit as Strikers’ Alex Carey was back after making his debut for Australia. Both Travis Head and Cameron White also returned to captain their sides. Afghanistan player Mohammad Nabi flew back home for national commitment and was replaced by the West Indian Kieron Pollard. Renegades’ skipper White opted to field first after winning the toss.

Jake Weatherald departed early for the Strikers. Renegades’ bowlers bowled well in the powerplay and tied up in-form Carey and Travis Head. They could only add 33 runs in the powerplay but managed to keep their wickets intact. Carey fell after hitting a couple of sound boundaries when he timed a shot straight to the fielder.

Collin Ingram along with his skipper then took the responsibility and targeted Brad Hogg where they smashed him for 18 runs. The Renegades were in a decent position with Strikers scoring just above 7 till the 17th over of the game. Head completed his half-century during the partnership with Ingram who teed off in the 18th over as he reached his 50 smacking Richardson for 19 runs.

Head fell in the next over from Kieron Pollard but Ingram was on fire as he hit 2 sixes in that over. Last over of the innings saw Ingram fall for 68 but not before smashing 5 sixes and 4 boundaries off just 38 balls while Jake Lehmann fell for a naught on the last ball.

The slowness of the pitch didn’t allow the Renegades’ openers to score freely in the powerplay as well. They could only manage 37 runs when the field restrictions were in place for the loss of opener Tim Ludeman. The required run rate was mounting and Renegades’ skipper Ludeman was finding it difficult to strike the ball to the boundary. He could only manage 17 runs off 23 balls before getting out to Rashid Khan.

Tom Cooper batted well for his 24 runs where he hit two fours and a six. It was Billy Stanlake who sent Cooper back to the pavilion, picking his second wicket of the night. Rashid removed West Indian allrounder Dwyane Bravo and left the opposition reeling.

The Renegades needed 75 runs to win in the last 5 overs but regular wickets didn’t let them scale it. The last over of the match saw veteran Brad Hodge take Neser to the cleaners as he smashed the fast bowler for 17 runs. Although Hodge’s blitz couldn’t stop the Strikers from winning the game it will surely help the side when the matter gets stuck to the net run rate.

Here are some of the best reactions from Twitter: