Twitter Reactions: All-round show from Tahlia McGrath steals the Thunder from the Sydney

Adelaide Strikers skipper Tahlia McGarth continued her rich vein of form from the India series into the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) as her all-around brilliance helped Strikers beat Sydney Thunder by 30 runs on Saturday (October 16) at Hobart in Tasmania. McGrath scored a crucial 42 runs and later picked three wickets to put the run chase beyond Thunder’s reach.

Sent into bat, the Strikers got off to a poor start as they lost the South African duo Dane van Niekerk and Laura Wolvaardt for 11 and 0 respectively. Walking in at number four, McGrath had to curb her natural instincts and had to wade a tricky little period. She exactly did that and played according to the situation.

The all-rounder wonderfully played the waiting game and only looked to dispatch the loose balls. She also formed a crucial 69 run-stand with Madeline Penna and took the team to a challenging score of 140.

Meanwhile, the Thunder had themselves to blame for not pressing the accelerator when they managed to pick three Strikers wickets. Their overseas recruits Deepti Sharma and Isabelle Wong were touch expensive with the ball and allowed the game to drift away. The wicket of McGrath or Penna could have allowed them to restrict the Strikers below 120 but that was not to be.

Tahlia McGrath’s three wickets derail Thunder’s chase

Chasing 141, Thunder needed a good start from Smriti Mandhana and Sammy-Jo Johnson instead, they lost both their openers cheaply for four runs respectively, and had to play the catching-up game for the longest time. Corinne Hall tried to repair the innings by scoring a valuable 38 runs but she failed to get any support whatsoever from the other end.

Yet again it was McGrath, this time with the ball in hand helping the Strikers seal the match. The skipper came into bowl when a partnership was building between Hall and Anika Learoyd. The seamer dismissed both the set batters and thereby finished the Thunder’s run-chase.

It was only up to all-rounder Deepti Sharma to take Thunder closer to the target, but she too failed as she managed just four runs. It was a far from an ideal start from the defending champions Thunder and they would be hoping to quickly move on from the bitter loss.

Here’s how Twitter reacted: