The New Year begins on the Gold Coast as far as the Big Bash League is concerned as the Brisbane Heat host the Perth Scorchers to get 2020 underway with what should be another great contest in this intriguing Australian domestic season.
The two teams enter 2020 just outside the playoff spots in the competition so a win here will be vital for whoever gets it, whereas the team that loses will be up against it so there can be no easing their way into the New Year for either of these.
Brisbane Heat
In a quirk to the fixture schedule, the Brisbane Heat haven’t played a match for well over a week. That break might have come at the wrong time as well because they had just picked up their only win of the campaign going into it. That was a dominant success against the Sydney Sixers in a display that they will be looking to repeat as often as possible throughout the remainder of the tournament. Sometimes it can be hard to get back on it after a 10 day gap.
Prior to that, the Heat had lost a couple of matches where their batsmen just never got going. That is the concern about the Heat though. They only have one way when it comes to batting and if they don’t come off they are going to lose pretty tamely, even allowing for the fact that they are bowling better than they have done in recent seasons. Unless they pace and manage their batting innings better this could be a long season.
Perth Scorchers
The Perth Scorchers have shown signs of what they can offer this season, but unlike in previous campaigns their consistency hasn’t been there and as a result of that they are floundering outside of the playoff places in the table and needing to find some regular big performances. The concern at the minute is that their one win has come against the Melbourne Renegades and in truth that isn’t looking massively big either.
The real inconsistency for the Scorchers has come with the bat. They have had two decent batting performances and two rubbish ones. Worse still for them one of the good displays still resulted in a loss and if they are not winning when they bat well there are issues to overcome for sure. They haven’t really bowled well once in the tournament and a huge improvement is going to be needed in that department.
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Team News
The Brisbane Heat will have overseas player Tom Banton back in their squad for this match after illness ruled him out of the victory over the Sydney Sixers last time out. Matt Kuhnemann retains his spot in the side but may not play.
Perth Scorchers have announced an unchanged squad from the one which got beat by the Sydney Sixers in pretty tame manner last time out but you would think there would be a change to the side just to freshen it up as much as anything. Joel Paris could come in.
Betting
I have to say I don’t trust either of these sides. Brisbane Heat can only bat one way and I don’t want to be on a team who does that, plus their record on this ground is terrible as well, while the Perth Scorchers don’t seem to be able to contain a thing right now and that is never a combination I like the look of. Given all that, I’m going to leave the match outcome alone and head for a side market.
I do think we’ll see a high scoring contest here. While Brisbane only bat one way, they should have it largely their own way against this bang ordinary Perth bowling attack but the Scorchers have a long and good enough batting line up to enjoy plenty of success against the Heat bowlers. That should all lead to a match where both sides score at least 160, a total scored in three of the four innings played on this ground already this season, and which can cover 319.5 runs.
Tips
Back Over 319.5 runs for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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