There is one match in the Big Bash League on Friday and that comes from the Adelaide Oval when the Adelaide Strikers take on the Brisbane Heat for the second time in a few days, in an important match for both sides.
Both these teams are in the playoff places going into the game but their spots are pretty precarious so this is a match neither can afford to lose. When you throw in another appearance for AB de Villiers, there is lots to look forward to here.
Adelaide Strikers
After a bright start to the season, the Adelaide Strikers have now won just one of their last five matches and seriously need to switch that form around if they are going to make it into the playoffs. It is all really tight around them in the standings so it won’t take a huge amount to get themselves right in the mix and extend their campaign, but they could easily lose their grip on the top five with a loss here.
The big problem for the Strikers in recent times have been their inability to put up any sort of decent runs with the bat. In two of their last three matches they have been shelled out for 135 or less and that is never a good starting point for a side who needs to win. To their credit, their bowlers have given defending those scores a right good go so if their batters can give them a few more runs to bowl at, they shouldn’t be written off.
Brisbane Heat
The Brisbane Heat eased past the Adelaide Strikers earlier in the week and they are warm favourites to do it again. The key would be whether they can grab hold of the Strikers batting and restrict it again. You wouldn’t think James Pattinson will take five wickets every week so that is a question that needs answering. If they don’t get hold of the Adelaide batting then this could easily be a long day at the office for the Brisbane Heat.
Although they won with 28 balls remaining at the Gabba earlier in the week, they did lose three wickets and you wonder what would have happened if they were chasing 160 or something in that ball park. Nevertheless they weren’t and credit goes to their batsmen for getting them home. I’m still not convinced by their batting as a whole though, although AB de Villiers is always a threat in it. Brisbane can answer a few questions for me here.
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Team News
Somewhat surprisingly the Adelaide Strikers have named an unchanged squad for this match. They could well go in with the same side too with Peter Siddle confident he will play despite splitting the webbing in his hand last time out.
Less of a surprise is the news that the Brisbane Heat have kept the same 13 men who picked up a comfortable win over this opposition earlier in the week. It is unlikely that there will be any changes to their starting line up either.
Betting
My gut feeling is that with home advantage the Adelaide Strikers are good value in this match, but I can’t really back a side who just got done up by this opposition last time out. At the same time though, I’m no massive fan of the Brisbane Heat this season so I’m not exactly rushing out to back them either. That sends me heading for the side markets where it is the boundaries that have caught my eye here.
We’ve seen all season long that the boundaries square of the wicket are very much in play and even in low scoring matches we’ve had boundary totals well into the 30s on this ground. I don’t actually think this will be all that low scoring given that it is a day game. The pitch is likely to be decent here and there are some pretty clean hitting batsmen on both sides. I think the game in Brisbane is the anomaly not the norm so I like over 36.5 boundaries here.
Tips
Back Over 36.5 boundaries for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with William Hill
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