Adelaide Strikers

This article is about the men's team. For the women's team, see Adelaide Strikers (WBBL).

The Adelaide Strikers are an Australian professional Twenty20 franchise cricket team based in Adelaide, South Australia that compete in the Big Bash League (BBL).^[2] Their home ground is the Adelaide Oval,^[3] and they play in a cornflower blue uniform. The Strikers were formed in 2011 to play in the BBL, succeeding the Southern Redbacks, who played in the now-defunct KFC Twenty20 Big Bash competition.^[4] Their sole victory in the BBL came in 2017–18.^[5]

Adelaide Strikers

Personnel
Captain	Matthew Short
Coach	Tim Paine
Team information
City	Adelaide
Colours	Blue
Founded	2011
Home ground	Adelaide Oval
Capacity	53,583 (3,500 standing on hill)[1]
History
BBL wins	1: BBL07
Official website	Official Website
T20 kit
As of 30 December 2024

Over their 11-year history in the BBL, they have had many effective and popular players on their team, from all-rounders such as Johan Botha, Michael Neser, Kieron Pollard, Ryan ten Doeschate and Chris Jordan, to high-scoring batsmen Travis Head, Colin Ingram, Chris Lynn, Mahela Jayawardene, Jonathan Wells, Michael Klinger and Jake Weatherald, to effective bowlers Ben Laughlin, Billy Stanlake, Rashid Khan, Peter Siddle, Adil Rashid and Kane Richardson, and finally keepers Alex Carey and Tim Ludeman.

The Strikers are currently coached by former Australian cricketer Tim Paine and captained by Matthew Short.

History

The Adelaide Strikers were formed in 2011, as a result of the formation of the Big Bash League.^[4] When the competition was first formed, each team had an opportunity to sign up players and build their lists. The contracting window opened on 30 June 2011 at 9 am and closed on 22 July 2011. Each team was allowed to sign up to 18 players, including up to two from overseas.^[6] The team's inaugural captain was South Australia captain, Michael Klinger, and the inaugural coach was Darren Berry, the then coach of the Southern Redbacks.^[7]

In the 2016/17 Big Bash, the Adelaide Strikers were rated the most entertaining team in the BBL, with a BBEI of 2177.^[8]

New Year's Eve match

Since BBL03, Cricket Australia started hosting a Strikers home match on 31 December night every year against different oppositions. It quickly gained popularity among the fans, turning into a tradition and attracting big crowds at the Adelaide Oval throughout the years. It is popularly termed as the New Year's Eve Match or NYE Clash in the media. Up until BBL08, the Strikers had maintained a clean 6–0 win record in the NYE Big Bash clashes. In season 3, Travis Head scored a brilliant century to take the Strikers home against Sydney Sixers in the NYE clash, which remains one of the most memorable NYE matches in the short history of BBL to date.^[9] Though, in BBL09, the Strikers finally fell against the Sydney Thunder by 3 runs, the Strikers' first defeat on New Year's Eve.^[10]

The Strikers haven't won a New Year's Eve game since 2018, currently going on a 5-year losing streak.

List of New Year's Eve matches

Year	Winner	Loser	Margin	Attendance	Player of the match
2013	Strikers	Scorchers	6 wickets[11]	26,030	Michael Klinger
2014	Strikers	Hurricanes	8 wickets[12]	43,288	Tim Ludeman
2015	Strikers	Sixers	5 wickets[13]	46,389	Travis Head
2016	Strikers	Sixers	48 runs[14]	45,471	Sean Abbott
2017	Strikers	Heat	56 runs[15]	46,594	Michael Neser
2018	Strikers	Thunder	20 runs[16]	41,987	Peter Siddle
2019	Thunder	Strikers	3 runs[17]	41,414	Callum Ferguson
2020	Scorchers	Strikers	7 wickets[18]	21,636	Jhye Richardson
2021	Thunder	Strikers	22 runs[19]	9,555	Jason Sangha
2022	Stars	Strikers	8 runs[20]	40,373	Marcus Stoinis
2023	Stars	Strikers	7 wickets	42,502	Marcus Stoinis
2024	Scorchers	Strikers	7 wickets	41,624	Cooper Connolly

Season Summaries

Chart of yearly table positions for Adelaide Strikers in BBL

Season	W–L	Pos.	Finals	Coach	Captain	Most Runs	Most Wickets	Most Valuable Player	Refs
2011–12	2–5	6th	DNQ	Darren Berry	Michael Klinger	Michael Klinger – 198	Aaron O'Brien – 6	Michael Klinger	[21][22][23]
2012–13	4–4	5th	DNQ	Darren Berry	Johan Botha	Michael Klinger – 242	Kane Richardson – 10	Johan Botha	[24][25][26]
2013–14	2–5	7th	DNQ	Darren Berry	Johan Botha[a]	Michael Klinger – 223	Shaun Tait – 11	Michael Neser	[27][28][29]
2014–15	6–1*	1st*	SF	Darren Berry	Johan Botha	Tim Ludeman – 253	Ben Laughlin – 13	Adam Zampa	[30][31][32]
2015–16	7–1*	1st*	SF	Jason Gillespie	Brad Hodge	Travis Head – 299	Adil Rashid – 16	Adil Rashid	[33][34][35]
2016–17	3–5	6th	DNQ	Jason Gillespie	Brad Hodge	Ben Dunk – 364*	Ish Sodhi – 9[b]	Ben Dunk	[36][37][38]
2017–18	7–3	2nd	C	Jason Gillespie	Travis Head[c]	Alex Carey – 443	Rashid Khan – 18*[d]	Rashid Khan	[39][40][41]
2018–19	6–8	7th	DNQ	Jason Gillespie	Travis Head[e]	Jon Wells – 359	Rashid Khan – 19	Rashid Khan	[42][43][44]
2019–20	8–5	3rd	KF	Jason Gillespie	Travis Head[f]	Jon Wells – 478	Peter Siddle – 19[g]	Jon Wells	[45][46][47]
2020–21	7–7	5th	EF	Jason Gillespie	Travis Head[h]	Jake Weatherald – 433	Wes Agar – 22	Wes Agar	[48][49][50]
2021–22	6–8	4th	CF	Jason Gillespie	Peter Siddle	Jon Wells – 501	Peter Siddle – 30^[i]	Matt Short	[51][52][53]
2022–23	5–9	7th	DNQ	Jason Gillespie	Travis Head[j]	Matt Short – 458	Wes Agar – 18	Matt Short*	[54][55][56]
2023–24	5–4	4th	CF	Jason Gillespie	Matt Short	Matt Short – 541*	Jamie Overton – 16	Matt Short*	[57][58][59]
2024–25	3–7	8th	DNQ	Tim Paine	Matt Short[k]	Alex Ross – 256	Lloyd Pope – 15		[60][61]

Legend

DNQ	Did not qualify	CF	Lost the Challenger	*	Led the league
EF	Lost the Eliminator	SF	Semi-finalists	^	League record
KF	Lost the Knockout	RU	Runners-up	C	Champions

Captaincy Records

There have been nine captains in the Strikers' history, including matches featuring an acting captain.

Span	Captain	M	Won	Lost	Tied	NR	W–L%
2011–12	Michael Klinger	7	2	5	0	0	28.57
2012–15	Johan Botha	23	12	9	0	2	57.14
2014	Phillip Hughes	2	0	2	0	0	0.00
2015–17	Brad Hodge	17	10	7	0	0	58.82
2017–24	Travis Head	28	17	11	0	0	60.71
2018	Colin Ingram	14	5	9	0	0	35.71
2019–25	Alex Carey	16	7	8	0	1	46.66
2020–23	Peter Siddle	27	12	15	0	0	44.44
2023–25	Matthew Short	21	10	10	0	1	50
2024–25	Alex Ross	3	1	2	0	0	33.33

Home grounds

Venue	Games hosted by season
	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	Total
Adelaide Oval	3	4	4	5	5	4	6	7	8	5	7	7	5	5	75
Melbourne Cricket Ground*	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1
Ninja Stadium*	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1
People First Stadium*	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1
TIO Traeger Park	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1

* Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, these neutral venues were used to host games.

Current squad

The squad of the Adelaide Strikers for the 2025–26 Big Bash League season as of 19 February 2025.^[62]

• Players with international caps are listed in bold.

S/N	Name	Nat.	Date of Birth	Batting Style	Bowling Style	Additional Info.
Batters
31	Thomas Kelly		14 December 2000	Right-handed	Right-arm medium
49	Alex Ross		17 April 1992	Right-handed	Right-arm off break
All-rounders
2	Matt Short		8 November 1995	Right-handed	Right-arm off break	Captain
Wicket-keepers
5	Alex Carey		27 August 1991	Left-handed	—
4	Harry Nielsen		3 May 1995	Left-handed	—
Bowlers
13	Cameron Boyce		27 July 1989	Right-handed	Right-arm leg break
21	Jordan Buckingham		17 March 2000	Left-handed	Right-arm fast
24	Lloyd Pope		1 December 1999	Right-handed	Right-arm leg break
58	Henry Thornton		16 December 1996	Right-handed	Right-arm fast

List of overseas players

Player	Nationality	Period	Role	Batting	Bowling
Johan Botha	South Africa	2011/12–2014/15	All-rounder	Right-handed	Right-arm off break
James Franklin	New Zealand	2011/12	All-rounder	Left-handed	Left-arm medium fast
Alfonso Thomas	South Africa	2011/12	Bowler	Right-handed	Right-arm fast medium
Kieron Pollard	West Indies	2012/13–2016/17	All-rounder	Right-handed	Right-arm medium fast
Saeed Ajmal	Pakistan	2012/13	Bowler	Right-handed	Right-arm off-break
Shakib Al Hasan	Bangladesh	2013/14	All-rounder	Left-handed	Left-arm orthodox
Alex Hales	England	2013/14	Batter	Right-handed	Right-arm medium
Ryan ten Doeschate	Netherlands	2014/15	All-rounder	Right-handed	Right-arm medium fast
Mahela Jayawardene	Sri Lanka	2015/16	Batter	Right-handed	Right-arm medium
Adil Rashid	England	2015/16	Bowler	Right-handed	Right-arm leg spin
Chris Jordan	England	2016/17	Bowler	Right-handed	Right-arm fast medium
Ish Sodhi	New Zealand	2016/17	Bowler	Right-handed	Right-arm leg spin
Colin Ingram	South Africa	2017/18–2018/19	Batter	Left-handed	Right-arm leg spin
Rashid Khan	Afghanistan	2017/18–2022/23	Bowler	Right-handed	Right-arm leg spin
Phil Salt	England	2019/20–2020/21	Batter	Right-handed	Right-arm medium
Danny Briggs	England	2020/21	Bowler	Right-handed	Left-arm orthodox
George Garton	England	2021/22	Bowler	Left-handed	Left-arm fast
Ian Cockbain	England	2021/22	Batter	Right-handed	Right-arm medium
Colin de Grandhomme	New Zealand	2022/23	All-rounder	Right-handed	Right-arm medium-fast
Adam Hose	England	2022/23-2023/24	Batter	Right-handed	Right-arm medium-fast
Jamie Overton	England	2023/24-present	All-rounder	Right-handed	Right-arm fast
David Payne	England	2023/24	Bowler	Right-handed	Left-arm fast-medium
Ollie Pope	England	2024/25-present	Wicket-keeper	Right-handed
Fabian Allen	West Indies	2024/25-present	All-rounder	Right-handed	Left-arm orthodox

Records

Team records

Result summary v. opponent

As of 26 December 2024

Opposition	M	Won	Lost	Tied	NR	W–L%
Brisbane Heat	22	10	11	0	1	47.62
Hobart Hurricanes	25	14	10	0	1	58.33
Melbourne Renegades	20	12	8	0	0	60
Melbourne Stars	19	9	10	0	0	47.37
Perth Scorchers	27	12	15	0	0	44.44
Sydney Sixers	21	7	14	0	0	33.33
Sydney Thunder	24	12	10	0	2	54.55

• Source: CricInfo^[63]

Highest innings score

As of 22 December 2023^[64]

Score	Opposition	Ground	Date
5/251	Brisbane Heat	Adelaide Oval	11 January 2024
3/230	Hobart Hurricanes	Adelaide Oval	5 January 2023
8/207	Hobart Hurricanes	Adelaide Oval	26 January 2020
4/205	Sydney Thunder	Adelaide Oval	19 December 2023
2/202	Hobart Hurricanes	Adelaide Oval	4 February 2018

Batting

Most career runs

As of 12 January 2025^[65]

Batsman	Years	Matches	Runs	High score
Jake Weatherald	2016–present	93	2,176	115
Matthew Short	2018–present	79	2,073	109
Alex Carey	2017–present	59	1,890	101
Jonathan Wells	2017–2022	71	1,740	73
Travis Head	2013–present	57	1,394	101 *

Highest scores

As of 12 January 2025^[66]

Batsman	Runs	Opposition	Ground	Date
Jake Weatherald	115	Hobart Hurricanes	Adelaide Oval	4 February 2018
Matthew Short	109	Brisbane Heat	Adelaide Oval	11 January 2025
Travis Head	101 *	Sydney Sixers	Adelaide Oval	31 December 2015
Alex Carey	101	Brisbane Heat	Adelaide Oval	21 January 2021
Matthew Short	100 *	Hobart Hurricanes	Adelaide Oval	5 January 2023
Alex Carey	100	Hobart Hurricanes	Adelaide Oval	17 January 2018

Highest Averages

As of 22 December 2023

Batsman	Years	Innings	Average
Jamie Overton	2023–present	9	90.50
Ian Cockbain	2022-2022	6	59.75
Ben Dunk	2016-2017	8	52.00
Chris Lynn	2022-present	20	43.88
Adil Rashid	2015-2016	4	43.00

Highest Strike Rate

Player	Years	Innings	Strike Rate
Rashid Khan	2017–2023	49	150.37
Chris Lynn	2022–present	20	130.40
2019–2021	30	146.50
Matthew Short	2018–present	73	141.51

Most Sixes

As of 22 December 2023

Player	Years	Innings	Amount
Jake Weatherald	2016–present	89	85
Matthew Short	2018–present	73	84
Travis Head	2013–present	55	61
Alex Carey	2017–present	55	46

Most Ducks

Player	Years	Innings	Amount
Rashid Khan	2017–present	49	7
Matthew Short	2018–present	60	6
Peter Siddle	2017-2023	22	5
Jake Lehmann	2016-2019	25	5

Highest partnerships by wicket

As of 11 January 2025^[67]

Wicket	Runs	Batters	Opposition	Ground	Date
1st	171	Alex Carey & Jake Weatherald	Hobart Hurricanes	Adelaide Oval	17 January 2018
2nd	140	Jake Weatherald & Travis Head	Hobart Hurricanes	Adelaide Oval	4 February 2018
3rd	107	Jake Weatherald & Alex Carey	Hobart Hurricanes	York Park, Launceston	15 December 2020
4th	104	Matthew Short & Jonathan Wells	Melbourne Renegades	Adelaide Oval	23 December 2018
5th	115	Brad Hodge & Alex Ross	Melbourne Stars	Adelaide Oval	18 December 2015
6th	59*	Travis Head & Adil Rashid	Sydney Sixers	Adelaide Oval	31 December 2015
7th	44	Johan Botha & Michael Neser	Melbourne Renegades	Docklands Stadium, Melbourne	2 January 2013
8th	55	Michael Neser & Kane Richardson	Perth Scorchers	WACA Ground, Perth	23 December 2016
9th	84*	Cameron Boyce & Brendan Doggett	Perth Scorchers	Adelaide Oval	31 December 2024
10th	61*	Daniel Worrall & Danny Briggs	Hobart Hurricanes	Blundstone Arena, Hobart	13 December 2020

Bowling

Most career wickets

As of 30 August 2023^[68]

Bowler	Seasons	Matches	Wickets	Best bowling
Rashid Khan	2017–2023	69	98	6/17
Peter Siddle	2017–2023	72	91	5/16
Wes Agar	2017–2024	52	68	4/6
Michael Neser	2012–2021	62	62	3/24
Ben Laughlin	2014–2019	50	60	4/26

Best bowling figures

As of 30 August 2023^[69]

Bowler	Figures	Opposition	Ground	Date
Ish Sodhi	6/11	Sydney Thunder	Stadium Australia, Sydney	18 January 2017
Rashid Khan	6/17	Brisbane Heat	The Gabba, Brisbane	12 January 2021
Henry Thornton	5/3	Sydney Thunder	Stadium Australia, Sydney	16 December 2022
Peter Siddle	5/16	Hobart Hurricanes	York Park, Launceston	15 December 2020
Peter Siddle	5/23	Hobart Hurricanes	Adelaide Oval	5 January 2022

Fielding

Most Catches

Player	Seasons	Matches	Catches
Matthew Short	2018–present	75	41
Jake Weatherald	2016–present	90	33
Michael Neser	2012-2021	62	30
Jonathan Wells	2017-2022	71	24

Honours

• BBL:
  • Champions (1): 2017–18
  • Runners Up (0):
  • Minor Premiers (2): 2014–15, 2015–16
  • Finals series appearances (7):2014–15, 2015–16, 2017–18, 2019–20, 2020–21, 2021–22, 2023–24
  • Wooden Spoons (1):2024–25

See also

• Cricket portal
• South Australia portal

• South Australian Cricket Association
• South Australia cricket team

Notes

1. Phillip Hughes stood in as acting captain for two games.
2. Ben Laughlin and Chris Jordan also took 9 wickets, but at a higher bowling average.
3. Colin Ingram stood in as acting captain for three games.
4. Dwayne Bravo from the Melbourne Renegades also took 18 wickets.
5. Colin Ingram stood in as acting captain for 11 games.
6. Alex Carey stood in as acting captain for seven games.
7. Rashid Khan also took 19 wickets but at a higher bowling average.
8. Alex Carey and Peter Siddle stood in as acting captain for nine and two games respectively.
9. Tied with Daniel Sams who also took 30 wickets in BBL|09.
10. Peter Siddle and Matt Short stood in as acting captain for eight and two games respectively.
11. Alex Ross stood in as acting captain for three games.