Strikers opener Katie Mack looked at home in Mackay. (Photo: Dani Brown)
In a WBBL season where many sides are still in with a chance of winning the title, Adelaide’s Katie Mack is confident her Strikers can beat any team in the competition.
“We need to stay confident and have fun and keep putting in our best performances,” she said.
“We’re on par with any team, if not better on our day, and just need to keep doing our own thing.”
The confident call comes after Mack’s 67 not out from the top of the order led the Strikers to another important victory, this time over the struggling Sydney Sixers at Karen Rolton Oval.
Despite facing pressure from Indian recruit Shafali Verma (53 not out), Mack and captain Tahlia McGrath came together needing 70 runs from the final 10 overs of the contest.
The pair put on a brilliant partnership, with McGrath finishing on 40 not out to support Mack’s half-century as the Strikers ground out another victory.
“It was exciting and nice to get over the line, it was T-Mac (McGrath) and mine’s focus out there to just do the job, so I’m glad that we managed to,” Mack said.
Mack’s knock was the perfect tonic, as the opener felt like batting out there was “easy today”, admitting that she always thought the runs would come as the pressure began to grow.
The opener admits batting with the likes of Tahlia McGrath, Laura Wolvaardt and Dane Van Niekerk in the top order is a wonderful way to alleviate fears, regardless of the situation they are in. A key reason, according to Mack, is the hard running between wickets they all do to keep the scoreboard ticking over.
“It’s easy batting with them, they hit fours and run hard,” she said.
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“I enjoy the running part of it. We talked risking it with running and making the Sixers do something really well, rather than us trying to risk hitting over the boundary or hitting into certain areas where we didn’t feel comfortable.
“We put it on them to get us out, rather than us getting ourselves out.”
But Mack didn’t just focus on the batting – she had plenty of praise for the Strikers’ bowling attack, and especially the presence of speedster Darcie Brown in limiting the vaunted Sixers’ batting order.
“Darcie got it up there, and to get a few wickets and then a run out early was really nice,” Mack said.
“We walked away thinking we could field a little better but they still scored under par, so we were happy with that.”
Adelaide will now travel up to Mackay for their next batch of games, as finals looms closer by the match.
Mack couldn’t contain her excitement over the move up north, saying she was confident her Strikers could continue to build towards a finals berth.
“I love Mackay, it’s nice and warm up there, and very tropical, I’m looking forward to getting to warmer weather,” she said.
“We have a bit of a roll on, we’re feeling really confident and I think we’ll get two wins, it’s something I’m looking forward to.”
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