Scorchers cruise to Boxing Day triumph

The match in a tweet: Scorchers' BBL08 campaign back on track after pace attack runs riot against stunned Strikers at packed Optus Stadium!

The score: Perth Scorchers 3-92 (Bosisto 36no, Turner 24; Valente 1-16) defeated Adelaide Strikers 88 (Weatherald 22; Richardson 3-7, Behrendorff 2-16, Tye 2-9) by seven wickets with 12 balls remaining.

The hero: Jhye Richardson turned a lot of heads when he took 8-47 for Western Australia in the JLT Sheffield Shield competition last month and he backed up that performance with a blistering spell for the Perth Scorchers at Optus Stadium on Boxing Day. Bowling consistently at speeds in the mid-140s and brought into the attack with the Strikers looking good at 2-35, Richardson picked up the key wicket of Matt Short in his first over and backed that up when he beat Jake Lehmann for pace in the following over and had him caught hooking on the boundary. He then trapped Michael Neser lbw in his final over of his spell to leave the Strikers in all sorts of trouble at 7-51 and with impressive figures of 3-7 from three overs. 

The supporting cast: The Scorchers boast a more than handy pace attack with Nathan Coulter-Nile, Andrew Tye and Jason Behrendorff boasting plenty of experience for Australia in white-ball cricket, while international star David Willey has plied his trade 24 times in T20 cricket for England. The quartet provided plenty of support for Richardson as they combined for six wickets between them. Behrendorff (two wickets) and Coulter-Nile (one) set the tone early in the Strikers' innings, before Richardson (three) and Willey (one) asked plenty from the visiting team with a fast spell during the middle overs. Tye (two wickets) then did what he does best as he cleaned up the tail to ensure the Strikers couldn't make it to triple figures.

The consolation act: Chasing 89 for victory with the bat at a little under 4.5 runs an over was always going to be a reasonably simple task for the Scorchers and they did it with few worries courtesy of a quickfire innings from Josh Inglis and mature knocks from Will Bosisto and Turner. Inglis got the ball rolling with 22 at better than a run a ball, before Bosisto (36no off 34 balls) and Turner (24 from 46) combined for a partnership of 57 for the third wicket to ensure the hosts cruised home with two overs remaining.

The internationals: We already touched on Willey's impressive spell with the ball and there were two other international players in action in Perth. South African batsman Colin Ingram failed to fire for the Strikers and was out for just two, while teammate Rashid Khan - arguably the best spin bowler in the competition - did all he could, but unfortunately failed to pick up a wicket. The Scorchers batsmen were overly cautious against the Afghanistan tweaker, who finished his four overs with figures of 0-9.

The stat: This stat is probably one that Alex Carey won't look too fondly upon, but the Strikers opener finished his innings with the slowest double figure score in Big Bash history. Carey's 26-ball knock of 11 gave him strike rate of 42.30, beating the previous slowest innings of 12 from 26 deliveries from veteran Brad Hodge during BBL|03 when playing for the Melbourne Stars against the Hobart Hurricanes.

The bat flip: It took only nine matches at BBL|08 for the bat flip to hit the headlines and that's exactly what happened in Perth. It looked a decent toss from Ashton Turner, but the bat failed to land on either 'roofs' or 'flats' and instead landed on its side. After flipping for a second time, the Scorchers won the toss as Turner elected to bowl and unleashed his fearsome pace attack on to the Strikers.

The next stop: The Scorchers travel to Tasmania to tackle the Hobart Hurricanes on Sunday December 30, while the Strikers head home to take on the Sydney Thunder on New Years Eve.

Perth Scorchers: Michael Klinger, Josh Inglis, Will Bosisto, Ashton Turner (c), Hilton Cartwright, Ashton Agar, David Willey, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Jhye Richardson, Andrew Tye, Jason Behrendorff

Adelaide Strikers: Alex Carey, Jake Weatherald, Colin Ingram (c), Matt Short, Jon Wells, Jake Lehmann, Michael Neser, Daniel Valente, Rashid Khan, Billy Stanlake, Ben Laughlin