The Perth Scorchers finished 2024 in second position on the BBL ladder after recording a seven-wicket win over the Adelaide Strikers on New Year’s Eve.
There was a controversial moment in the second innings when Jamie Overton added Scorchers batsman Finn Allen.
The latter appeared to come out of his crease as the English bowler ran to deliver a ball to Cooper Connolly.
But upon realizing that Allen had wandered three feet out of his area, Overton removed the bails, but only as a warning.
Overton did not appeal for the wicket, but instead turned around to exchange some fiery words with the Scorchers batsman, who was then dismissed by Brendan Doggett for 50.
The pace bowler seemed infuriated by the batsman who had backed off too soon.
Jamie Overton added Fin Allen during the Scorchers’ win against the Strikers on New Year’s Eve.
The pair appeared to exchange heated words with Overton pointing the finger at the Scorchers batsman and issuing a warning.
Overton did not appeal for the wicket after Allen had been backing off his early wicket
Connolly subsequently hit him six times with the resulting ball.
Had Overton appealed the decision, there is a chance Allen would have been ruled out as his bat did not appear to have crossed the line when the bails were removed from his stumps.
A record ninth wicket stand between tailenders Brendan Doggett (47th) and Cameron Boyce (29th) spared the Strikers complete humiliation in front of a crowd of 41,624 at Adelaide Oval on Tuesday night, lifting them to 8-142.
But it was not enough to prevent the resurgence of Allen (50 off 23 balls), leading golden bat Cooper Connolly (48 off 35 balls) and captain Ashton Turner (35 off 18 balls) from leading the Scorchers to victory with 33 deliveries to spare. .
Perth’s response, however, was not without drama.
Matt Hurst fell twice before being bagged for three, and the Scorchers should have been 3-13 when Connolly, for four, edged Doggett off wicketkeeper Ollie Pope, but only the bowler offered a quiet appeal.
Allen, who came into the match with 10 runs from four attacks, was outscored for 11 by Alex Ross before earning the ire of the fiery Adelaide import Overton.
After Doggett castled Allen, captain Ashton Turner came in and finished the job by crushing Cameron Boyce 6-6-4.
Earlier, the Strikers fell to 8-58 before Doggett, whose previous best Twenty20 score was 10no, and Boyce became unlikely batting allies.
Jhye Richardson, called up to the Australian squad for the Boxing Day Test against India, boosted his hopes of selection in the upcoming Sydney match by taking three wickets.
Allan powered his way to a half-century, the highest individual score of the match to help the Scorchers win by seven wickets.
Only D’Arcy Short (22) and Ross (20), replacing the injured Matt Short, who suffered a broken toe against the Hobart Hurricanes last Friday, reached double figures for Adelaide before the resurrection work of Doggett and Boyce.
Pope (1) and Chris Lynn (1) narrowly missed out before Jake Weatherald (8) fell to a stunning one-handed catch from Andrew Tye, launching himself skywards at mid-wicket.
Jhye Richardson, called up to the Australian squad for the recently completed Boxing Day Test against India, bolstered his hopes of selection in the upcoming Sydney match by taking three wickets.
The pacer had Overton push Ashton Agar at backward point, then clean-up Liam Scott with an excellent Yorker next ball.
The Strikers, who lost 6-18 off 30 balls, were rescued by Doggett and Boyce, who combined for an unbroken 84-run stand, the best ever for the penultimate wicket.
The pace trio Richardson (3-29), Jason Behrendorff (2-14) and Lance Morris (2-19) were the main destroyers with the ball for the visitors, whose only concern came when Agar left the field with spasms in the back.