All-round Neser stars as Strikers make it three in three

Nesser smashed 40 and then picked up two wickets to set up the win. © Getty

Michael Neser played a crucial role with both bat and ball to help Adelaide Strikers surge to the top of the table in the Big Bash League as they dismantled Brisbane Heat on Sunday (December 31) in Adelaide. Neser first starred with the bat to provide the impetus right at the death during Strikers' innings to help them post a fighting total. He then came back with the ball and picked up the key wickets of skipper Brendon McCullum and Alex Ross as Strikers won by 56 runs.

Strikers initially didn't make the best of starts after opting to bat first as Josh Lalor rattled Alex Carey's stumps in the third over. Two overs later, Jake Weatherald suffered the same fate as Lalor struck again. Heat never allowed Strikers to settle down as they kept pegging the hosts back with wickets at regular intervals. Playing his first game in the tournament, Yasir Shah made an immediate impression, coming in for his national teammate Shadab Khan. Travis Head failed to read Yasir and eventually got bowled by a top-spinner to leave his side reeling at 44 for 3 in eight overs.

South African recruit Colin Ingram struck a boundary each off the next two overs but eventually became Yasir's second victim when he failed to clear the boundary off a slog sweep. At 76 for 5 after 13 overs, the innings was going nowhere before Neser and Jake Lehmann added a few boundaries to up the ante. Even though Lehmann fell in the 18th over of the innings, Neser carried on with the good work, smashing a couple of sixes and three fours to finish unbeaten on 40 off just 26 as the hosts added 71 in the last seven overs.

Chasing a tricky 148, Heat got off to a nightmarish start with Jimmy Peirson, Chris Lynn, Joe Burns and Ross departing within the first 19 balls of the innings, much to the delight of the home crowd that had assembled on New Year's Eve. While Head, who brought on himself to bowl the first over, got rid of Peirson, Rashid Khan fetched the crucial wicket off Lynn, who fell for a three-ball duck. Lynn would have considered himself unlucky as an umpiring howler led to his wicket. The batsman attempted to drive the legspinner and ended up missing the delivery but the umpire reckoned there was an outside edge, much to Lynn's horror.

Apart from being rattled by the home side's spinners, Heat also found the going tough against the raw pace of Billy Stanlake, who consistently bowled in the late 140s. With Ben Cutting also departing for a 13-ball 14, McCullum had to play an uncharacteristic innings at the opposite end. At the halfway mark, the former New Zealand skipper was batting on 15 off 19 deliveries with his side needing another 92 to upstage the hosts.

Neser, though, shattered Heat's slightest of hopes just two balls into the 11th over of the chase as he bowled one short after watching McCullum step down the track. The adjustment in length reaped reward as the batsman failed to time it cleanly to be eventually caught by Lehmann in the deep. From there on, the game was heading only in one direction as Laughlin added two more to finish with a three-wicket haul.

Brief scores: Adelaide Strikers 147/7 in 20 overs (Michael Neser 40*, Colin Ingram 23; Josh Lalor 3-40, Yasir Shah 2-18) beat Brisbane Heat 91 in 16.2 overs (Cameron Gannon 23; Ben Laughlin 3-11, Michael Neser 2-7) by 56 runs