Veteran Australian cricketer and T20 specialist Brad Hodge is announced as the captain of Adelaide Strikers for 2015-16 KFC Big Bash League. Club was looking for the new skipper and on 14 December, experienced Hodge was appointed as the captain of side for 5th edition of BBL beginning from 17 December.
Brad Hodge was happy to become the leader of side and excited to perform for Strikers in the tournament. He mentioned that the group of players was really good and strong. The youth and experience players in team would help in the new edition of BBL.
He said, “It’s really exciting and I’m looking forward to leading the boys this year in front of a packed Adelaide Oval and some of the league’s best fans. I think we’ve got a really strong group of players and have a good combination of youth and experience in the side so we’ll have a few players in the team who can mentor the younger guys as well.”
Right handed batsman will be playing two roles in the Strikers as apart from captaining the side, he’ll be performing duties as the assistant coach for the club as per the two years new contract that Hodge signed with Adelaide Strikers this year.
Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardene and England’s Adil Rashid are the international overseas players for Adelaide Strikers this year. The experience of Jayawardene with head coach Australian Jason Gillespie will definitely help the side in the BBL games.
Hodge said, “Jason’s done well in the four-day comp over there (with Yorkshire in England) and hopefully he can bring some of that success to the Strikers. He’ll have his own ideas and the way he wants to do it, so I’ll fit in and work with Jason, find out the game plan and try to help those young kids that we have as best I possibly can.”
“We saw some really good glimpses of that last year where it paid off. Travis Head went really well, Alex Ross came in and had a few cameos, which was something I’d spoken about with him after my own experiences with Rajasthan Royals,” he added.
Adelaide Strikers will be playing their first match in BBL on 18 December against Melbourne Stars on the home ground Adelaide Oval.