Strikers cruise to Thunder win, book spot in BBL finals

Adelaide captain Matt Short whacked a brilliant 74 not out to steer them to the easy win on Sunday night, his sixth half-century in nine innings this campaign securing his side a spot in the top four.

Dynamic bowling from spinner Lloyd Pope (4-22) and quick Jamie Overton (3-26) ensured the Strikers delivered an all-round performance where they rarely looked like losing.

They'll face Perth or the Sydney Sixers in an elimination final and they take some serious form there, having won four straight games.

Short praised his team's ability to hit their straps at the pointy-end of the competition, declaring confidence was brimming through his charges.

"We made it pretty hard for ourselves the last few games obviously having to win the last four or five to keep our hopes alive," he told reporters.

"Very happy with the boys, we hit form at the right time and I'm looking forward to next week.

"We were at the bottom of the ladder at some stage there, to turn that around and get the wins and make the finals, it's a real credit to the boys."

The Strikers won with 23 balls to spare, Short twice depositing monster sixes out of the Manuka Oval precinct, while No.3 bat Jake Weatherald was in similar touch with four sixes in his unbeaten 47.

Short's remarkable batting form, which has earned him a call-up to the Australian ODI side, is sure to be a trump card for the Strikers in finals.

"I've always put a big emphasis on starting the tournament well, getting a bit of momentum early on and rolling through, which I think I did pretty well," he said.

"The challenge was to sustain that which I haven't in the last couple of years, I've finished tournaments pretty poorly.

"I'm pretty proud of being able to go on with the tournament and the start I had."

Things could have been different for the Thunder, with retired Test opener David Warner dropping a difficult catch off the first ball of the innings.

D'Arcy Short enjoyed his second chance, only making 15 but farming the strike perfectly to fellow opener Matt Short.

Batting first, Thunder opener Alex Hales (43 off 32 balls) looked to take the game away from the Strikers, but Adelaide tweaker Cameron Boyce produced a perfect leg-break that gained an edge to turn the match on its head.

Contributions lower down the order from skipper Chris Green (19) and Matt Gilkes (18) helped the Thunder build a somewhat respectable score, before they were bowled out with four balls to spare.

Spinner Pope did his part in cleaning up the Thunder tail, including bowling Green and Nathan McAndrew in consecutive balls.

He didn't get his hat-trick but settled for the next best thing, knocking over Liam Hatcher a ball later.

Australian Associated Press