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Saturday, 2 January 2016

A NYE T20 match to remember

In what was possibly the best three overs of cricket I have ever watched, the Adelaide Strikers required 51 runs from the final three overs. That's 18 balls for glory against the Sydney Sixers; it was looking pretty unlikely - I must say.


The revamped Adelaide Oval is now a world class facility, around 46,000 people had packed into the stands and excitement was running high on New Year's Eve. Travis Head was settled on 55 from 40 balls and looking solid, Rashid had just come to the crease and was about to witness the onslaught from the non-striker's end.


Sean Abbott went for 6 4 6 4 6 1 in the third last over, it was an electric batting performance with Head hitting down the ground. All of a sudden, we started to believe he could pull this off. Experienced Doug Bollinger fronted up for the second last over and bowled reasonably well under the circumstances conceding 11 runs leaving 13 runs required off the last 6 balls for victory. 

Sean Abbott has handed the ball for the final over, a brave move since he had just gone for 27 runs in his last over. The first ball was picked off his pads to fly over the fence for 6, the second ball ended up in the stands over deep mid-wicket again. Travis was now on 95 with four balls to go. Abbott banged the ball in short with Head being forced to jump high to make contact and make contact he did as the ball flew over the mid wicket boundary to bring up Head's century. His 101 not out came from an impressive 53 deliveries.  

As midnight closed in on Adelaide, there was no need for pyrotechnics, Travis Head had ensured any fireworks would be an anti-climax after this masterful batting display on New Year's Eve. 

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