Spin bowlers Danny Briggs and Johan Botha were the first players to be substituted out of a KFC BBL game under the new X-Factor rule. Both the Adelaide Strikers and Hobart Hurricanes chose to step up their clout on a seam-friendly Launceston pitch.
While the rule was ignored for the first seven games of the tournament, Matthew Short (Strikers) and Mac Wright (Hurricanes) were brought into play at the 10-over timeout.
After the beginning of BBL | 10 rules introduced, teams are now allowed to subject their 12th or 13th listed player for a player named in XI (provided they have not hit or bowled more than one player) at the 10th game to signs of the first innings of the game.
Briggs had sent a sole down and was smashed for 15 while Botha had no involvement in the game while he was in hiding.
“It (the field) has a little more going for it than we thought,” Hurricanes manager Adam Griffith told Channel Seven. “It was hard work up front (against) the new ball.”
Forward captain Alex Carey told Channel Seven after the game that he had made the call for tactical reasons to subdue Briggs for Short.
“On that wicket I thought it was going to be difficult to follow,” said Carey.
“Having that extra batter was more important than that extra finger spinner.
“I think we put it together pretty well. It’s never easy for a man to get out of the game, but Briggsy took it really well.
“It was my decision. I had it in the back of my mind if he went bowling first … I walked with my stomach and I was happy with how it all turned out.”
Both Short and Wright were quickly put into action.
Wright was only 11 balls on the kink after coming on and making 15 of 14 balls, while Short rolled over the 15th and took eight runs with his off-spinners.
Short didn’t add much to the Strikers’ clout as the right-handed man was sacked for a golden duck, but by that point Adelaide had all but sealed a five-wicket win.
At the start of the game, on Channel Seven, Ricky Ponting had urged the Strikers to become the first team to take the plunge.
“All the teams said, ‘We’re going to use it if we’re four or five early and throw a batsman out, bring in a bowler,” said Ponting.
“I think the strikers could do it in reverse order, maybe think about taking out one of their weirdos and jumping in quickly.
“If the Adelaide Strikers aren’t using that X-Factor, I think they made a mistake in the game. (It’s a) tactical mistake if you don’t use it. “
