Adelaide Strikers 165 for 6 (Short 60, Ross 35, Siddle 2-21, Milne 2-32) beat Melbourne Stars 150 for 9 (Harper 48, Pope 3-21, Short 2-23, Overton 2-44) by 15 runs

Short (60 off 42 balls) wasn't scheduled to play but was called up on Friday after a calf niggle sidelined Chris Lynn.

Strikers' spin trio took four of the first five wickets and six all up, with Pope (3 for 21) spearheading their attack. Pope showed great resilience after suffering the indignity of leaking 31 runs in a match-tilting over in Strikers' first-game loss to Sydney Thunder in Canberra on Tuesday.

Maxwell, who played his first BBL game of the season, threatened to take control of the match after reverse-sweeps for six off his second and third balls off Boyce. But paceman Henry Thornton (1 for 16) trapped the big-hitter lbw, backing up his spin trio superbly.

All bar two of D'Arcy Short's first 28 runs came from boundaries, with a six and five fours.

Ollie Pope made just eight off ten balls before being caught behind off a poor attempted ramp.