Over-reliance on Sophie Devine and Suzie Bates may hinder Adelaide's attempt to bounce back

WOMEN'S BIG BASH LEAGUE PREVIEW - ADELAIDE STRIKERS: Australian core and star overseas signings looking to improve on indifferent season last year

Coach: Luke Williams

Captain: Tegan McPharlin

Overseas players: Sophie Devine, Suzie Bates (both New Zealand), Stafanie Taylor (West Indies), Lauren Winfield (England)

Australia national team players: Megan Schutt, Amanda-Jade Wellington, Tahlia McGrath, Sarah Coyte

Last season: Sixth

How did they do last season? Despite being beaten in the semi-finals by eventual champions Sydney Sixers in 2017-18, they lost eight of their fourteen games last year, only winning three home games, and surrendered the highest total - 206 for one to eventual runners-up Sixers.

Key players

Suzie Bates: Twice ODI Cricketer of the Year, once T20 Cricketer of the Year and Wisden's Leading Woman Cricketer in the World, who also has the highest score and batting average ever for New Zealand's T20 team. The former White Ferns captain scored 421 runs at 35.08 and took nine useful wickets.

Sophie Devine: Once made a T20 half-century in just 18 balls and last campaign plundered 556 runs at 46.33 with an impressive strike-rate of 136.60, with only superstar Ellyse Perry scoring more. She also took the most wickets (14) for the team at an average of 21.71 with her medium pace but can't be expected to carry that burden this time.

Stafanie Taylor: West Indies captain Taylor is only available for the first two and last two home and away matches (plus the finals, if they get there). Her spell at Sydney Thunder, encompassing 58 matches in four seasons including a title in her first year, has persuaded the Strikers to sign the Jamaican allrounder.

Tahlia McGrath: 23-year-old Australian international McGrath hit 276 runs and took five wickets, a good all-round return, and has been handed a National Performance Squad contract for the upcoming season.

Darcie Brown: The 16-year-old schoolgirl became the youngest ever player – male or female – to sign a Strikers contract when she penned a three-year deal. The Year 11 student’s bowling has touched 72mph and head coach Luke Williams has described her as an ‘exceptionally exciting talent’.

^{Lauren Winfield will deputise for Stafanie Taylor during the middle stages of the competition}

Strengths

Scoring runs wasn't the problem last time out - they had two of the competition's five highest run-scorers in Bates and Devine. A highest winning margin suggests they can edge tight games, but also indicates they struggle to beat teams convincingly.

Weaknesses

Their top wicket-taker Sophie Devine took the 18th-most wickets with 14: every other franchise had at least one player and five of the other seven teams had two players who took more wickets.

Last year, Tegan McPharlin only made 156 runs at an average of less than 20 with a high score of 41, while Danielle Hazell - the former England off-spinner, who has now turned her hand to coaching - took less than one wicket per game.

England involvement

After disappointing output from Danielle Hazell last year, Lauren Winfield is the only English representative for Adelaide. The 29-year-old, who played in every T20 during the Women’s Ashes, will fill in for Taylor in the middle 10 games of the season.

Squad: Darcie Brown, Tegan McPharlin, Alex Price, Annie O’Neil, Sarah Coyte, Katie Mack, Sophie Devine, Suzie Bates, Bridget Patterson, Ellie Falconer, Megan Schutt, Tahlia McGrath, Stafanie Taylor, Lauren Winfield, Amanda-Jade Wellington, Tabatha Saville

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