Jake Lehmann hit his first ball of BBL05 over the mid-off boundary for six to give Adelaide Strikers a six wicket win over Hobart Hurricanes in dramatic style.
The son of Australia coach Darren Lehmann had needed four from the final ball and had the Adelaide Oval crowd dancing in the aisles and took the Strikers’ to the top of the BBL05 table and ensure them a home semi-final.
Adil Rashid (main photo) was Player of the match for his outstanding 2-16 from his 4 overs and is now the BBL05’s leading wicket taker. He said: “I thought we bowled exceptionally well. Spinners in general can pick up wickets in T20s. I am going through a nice run. I am coming back after five years. 50,000 people watching and at this moment of the time I am just concentrating on the Big Bash.”
The Hurricanes had made 143 and wasted three balls by being bowled out. It should never have troubled the home side, but it did.
The Strikers ended up needing 34 from the final three overs with Tim Ludeman keeping the sheep afloat on 50 and the evergreen Brad Hodge showing all of his experience. The pair took Cameron Boyces’s 18th over of the innings for 18 runs and surely they were home and hosed. But Shaun Tait bowled Hodge and 10 were needed from the last six balls.
Alex Ross hit two twos but was then caught by a fine diving catch from Jon Wells at long-on in Simon Milenko’s final over of the match. Five were needed from two balls.
Ludeman (57* from 58 balls) only mustered a single from Milenko’s penultimate delivery and then came Lehmann.
The Hurricanes had lost six wickets for only 23 runs as Adil Rashid turned the screw and went from 93 for three at the end of the 12th over to 143 all out 7.3 overs later.
Rashid’s googly accounted for Jonathan Wells and then had Daniel Christian leg before as the Hurricanes stumbled to 133 for six..Greg West on debut earned 2-24 with his left-arm pace as he accounted for Ben Dunk and Hill (32 from 21 balls).
“I got lucky I guess,” said an understated Lehmann after the game. “Ludeman just said go mid-off. If not the short boundary. The crowd has been brilliant. Sold out for the third time this season.”
His father later tweeted: “How good is that . Love it #proud dad and family.”
The Hurricanes are now struggling to make the competitions latter stages.
James Buttler
As the editor of Cricket Badger he is intent on building the website to give quality coverage of the domestic game around the world.
James was the full-time Media Manager at Yorkshire County Cricket Club between 2007 and 2010.
James is a published author and a writer/video contributor to many cricket publications.
He's unsurprisingly a complete cricket badger!
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