The second half of the double header of action in the Big Bash League on Saturday sees the table toppers Melbourne Stars playing the final match of their regular season when they entertain the Brisbane Heat at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
This might not be the biggest match of the season for the Melbourne Stars but it is a pretty huge one for the Heat as they will move from seventh into fifth win with a win and be in control of their destiny when it comes to extending their campaign.
Melbourne Stars
There is no doubt that the Melbourne Stars have been the best team in this regular season, but their intensity has disappeared since they were crowned as the table toppers and they could do with getting that back here. We’ve seen it happen regularly in these franchise events that teams dominate the early stages but go into the postseason in indifferent form and are unable to get their best stuff back. That could happen to the Stars.
It is fine resting players, and I get why they do it, but the time for that has gone now. They should be looking at playing their strongest side here and regather the sort of intensity and form that have been on top of the table heading into the playoffs, just for peace of mind as much as anything else. If they do win here they will be very tough to stop in the postseason where they will have home advantage if they keep winning.
Brisbane Heat
A week or so ago it looked like the Brisbane Heat were cruising into the playoffs but three disastrous batting performances later and they are clinging onto the chance by their fingertips. Those batting displays are a real concern because they have been so bad and they’ve come against sides who aren’t necessarily tremendous with the ball as well. Those kind of things become a mental issue so they are clearly in need of their senior players to step up.
The Heat have generally gone ok with the ball, in fact they’ve done better than that, but none of that will matter if these batting issues are not sorted out. This is a ground where you need to be clever with the bat too and that doesn’t bode well for the Heat, because they have lacked brains with the willow in hand for a while. The good thing for Brisbane is that despite these recent calamities they still have their destiny in their own hands for now.
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Team News
Melbourne Stars have recalled Nathan Coulter-Nile into their ranks for this match and he will go into a bowling attack which includes new signing Dilbar Hussain, who has joined up from Pakistan and who will make his debut here. Hilton Cartwright is out with injury.
The Brisbane Heat have made one change to their squad for this match and in typical cricketing ways when the batting is struggling they have ditched a batsman and brought in a bowler with Jack Prestwidge coming in for Joe Burns.
Betting
The Melbourne Stars might have lost their intensity in recent games but I can’t ignore them in this match. I say that because these batting woes that the Brisbane Heat are suffering are showing no signs of letting up, if anything they are getting worse. They are a team built to smack the ball and hit boundaries and this is not a ground that suits that style of batting so that is a real concern to me I have to say.
One of the reasons why the Brisbane Heat have been so poor with the bat is because they can’t play spin particularly well and in Sandeep Lamichhane and Adam Zampa, the Stars have two of the best in the competition in that discipline. They took four wickets in the reverse meeting and that was when the Heat were having no issues with the bat. In the main the Stars batsmen have come to the fore since then as well so even though the need is more with the Heat here, I have to take the home side in this one.
Tips
Back Melbourne Stars to beat Brisbane Heat for a 4/10 stake at 1.75 with 888sport
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