Twitter Reactions: Fletcher's blitzkrieg, Zampa's fifer guide Stars to a 'spicy' victory

With a sublime effort with the bat, an inspirational outing for the bowlers, and an electric effort in the field, the Melbourne Stars ticked off all the boxes against the Adelaide Strikers in the 40th match of the Big Bash League (BBL) 2020-21. It did not take the Stars too long to avenge their 5-wicket loss against the Strikers as they bashed them by 111 runs in Melbourne, courtesy of Andre Fletcher and Adam Zampa’s magnificence. Desperate for a win, Glenn Maxwell’s men went for the kill from the word go, and it was one-way traffic right from the start when the Strikers invited their opponents to bat.

Andre Fletcher, who had a forgettable tournament before today’s blitz, seemed in a rush as he took on the bowlers straight up. The same could not be emulated by his partner Marcus Stoinis, who glaringly struggled to middle the ball as both Cameron Valente and Daniel Worrall kept hitting the length area and bowled a tad bit out of the off stump.

Spiceman spices it up for Stars

While Stoinis lacked intent and continued to mistime or give the deliveries a miss, a desperate-for-runs Fletcher made things look entirely different from his end. He charged down the track to slap some in the covers, whereas anything even slightly overpitched was given the due treatment.

A laboring Stoinis holed out a Briggs full toss to Worrall standing at long-off as his boundary-less knock of 13 from 26 came to an end. Skipper Maxwell’s move to promote himself did not materialize too well at the start as he uncharacteristically ate up quite a few balls, which also meant that Fletcher failed to retain strike. Not trying anything too fancy and playing very few strokes, it was evident that the two consecutive ducks were on Maxwell’s mind. His 37 from 28, which had three boundaries and a six, was curtained by Valente, who got the Stars’ skipper caught in the deep.

Joined by Hilton Cartwright in the middle, Fletcher went berserk in the Power Surge overs as Stars picked 33 runs from those overs combined. Cartwright blew off towards the fag end of the innings, slapping 30 from 17, and though his cameo denied the show-stopper Fletcher a century, his unbeaten 49-ball 89, featuring 8 fours and 4 sixes, laid the foundation of Stars’ victory.

Adam Zampa spins a web

Chasing 180 for the win, the Strikers lost their openers within the first three overs. Phil Salt was the first to go as he reverse-swept Zahir Khan, only to glove the ball to Seb Gotch behind the wickets, whereas skipper Alex Carey was undone by opponent skipper Maxwell’s flatter delivery, which knocked his stumps off. After a brief passage, which witnessed 36 runs added in 43 deliveries between Jonathan Wells and Matt Renshaw, the Stars’ spinners built a web around the Strikers, who fell like ninepins.

Registering his second fifer in T20 cricket, Adam Zampa recorded figures of 5 for 17 and opened the doors for himself after he struck to dismiss Renshaw for 20. He wiped clean the lower-order as Zahir Khan and Billy Stanlake chipped in alongside as the Strikers tumbled out for the third-lowest score of BBL (68), losing the game by an astronomical margin of 111 runs.

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