ON Wednesday, the in-form Hurricanes comprehensively beat the Strikers at Ninja Stadium. On Saturday however it was a different story, with Adelaide taking an unlikely win against the third-placed side.

The 38-run win gave them their second win of the competition, managing to bowl the Hurricanes out inside 16 overs.

Batting first, the defending champions were looking shaky early. Openers Smriti Mandhana (six off nine balls) and Katie Mack (six off eight) were not troubling the bowlers, nor ticking the score over within their innings.

The introduction of Laura Wolvaardt after her first half-century of the tournament last game, brought about a run-a-ball 18, while their captain Tahlia McGrath was out for just six off nine balls.

In the end, it was the contribution of their highest run scorer Madeline Penna (60 off 40) that got the Strikers to their 140 total, which seemed like an under par score on Adelaide Oval historically.

For the Hurricanes, despite the best effort of Elyse Villani (44 off 39), they failed to chase Adelaide’s total. Alongside Villani, it was only veteran all-rounder Nicola Carey (18 off 16) and club debutant and New Zealand international Suzie Bates (15 off 10) that were the only Hobart players to manage double figures with the bat.

The continuous fall of wickets was as a result of the bowling attack of the Strikers.

Megan Schutt and Anesu Mushangwe managing two wickets each, while Amanda-Jade Wellington and Orla Prendergast that took the crucial wickets of Bates and Lizelle Lee respectively. The latter was particularly impressive considering the amount of runs that Lee has scored, with back-to-back tons to her name in consecutive matches.

Their best bowler was McGrath, who took 4/13 off 3.2 overs, taking the scalp of Callie Wilson to bowl the ‘Canes out.