The Adelaide Strikers finished 2nd on the Big Bash League table last season and went on to win the title. They’ll be looking to become just the second team to successfully defend their title in BBL08. We take a look at the Adelaide Strikers in our full 2018-19 Big Bash League team preview below!
Catch our other team previews here!
BBL08 Team Previews
Adelaide Strikers
Last Season: 2nd (Premiership)
In: Matt Short, Cameron Valente
Out: -
Current Squad (18): Wes Agar, Alex Carey, Michael Cormack, David Grant, Travis Head, Colin Ingram, Rashid Khan, Ben Laughlin, Jake Lehmann, Michael Neser, Liam O’Connor, Matthew Short, Peter Siddle, Billy Stanlake, Jake Weatherald, Jon Wells, Nick Winter, Cameron Valente
The Strikers are taking a ‘if it aint broke, don’t fix it’ mentality into this season. Adelaide will run back the same core of players that was successful in winning their first title in BBL history last season, led by captain Travis Head, who could unfortunately miss the majority of the season.
Adelaide was fantastic in the BBL07 final, knocking over the Hobart Hurricanes by 25 runs as Jake Weatherald scored a brilliant 115 off just 70 balls. The Strikers might be slightly more hindered by international duty this season but have the depth and quality to cover the losses.
Head coach Jason Gillespie will be in his 2nd season in charge of the team and will have plenty of talent to call upon.
Star top order batsman Travis Head will likely miss the majority of the season through international duties, however, the Strikers arguably still possess the best batting line-up in the league even without him.
Jake Weatherald, Jonathan Wells, Jono Dean, Jake Lehmann and Colin Ingram will all play time at the top of the order while all-rounders Michael Neser, Cameron Valante and wicket-keeper Alex Carey will hold up the middle-lower order.
The pace bowling attack was fantastic for Adelaide throughout their premiership campaign. Led by all-star BBL bowler and Australian T20 player Billy Stanlake. Peter Siddle will reprise his role as death specialist while Ben Laughlin will round out the starting trio of pacemen.
However, the real star of the Adelaide bowling attack will of course be spinner Rashid Khan. The Afghani superstar led the league in wickets last season with 18 through 11 games and should be available fot the whole season in BLL08. If Khan can have a similar year to the one he did last season, the Strikers should be around the mark once again.
1. Alex Carey
2. Jake Weatherald
3. Travis Head
4. Colin Ingram
5. Jonathan Wells
6. Jake Lehmann
7. Jono Dean
8. Rashid Khan
9. Peter Siddle
10. Ben Laughlin
11. Billy Stanlake
The Strikers should walk into the top four and at their best we would probably have them finishing first. However, without Head in the lineup for at least the first half of the season, we think they finish in 3rd or 4th behind the Scorchers and Hurricanes.
