The Big Bash League is back in Adelaide on Thursday when the Adelaide Strikers host the Brisbane Heat in what is another huge match in the competition as we enter the latter stages of the league phase of the season.
Both these sides sit outside the top five zone which is where you need to be to make the finals of the competition but whoever wins here will move into one of those positions so there is plenty to play for here for both sides.
Adelaide Strikers
You feel as though this season has never got going for the Adelaide Strikers and at no point have we really seen them at their absolute best. They were pottering along in the top five but without a safety net in it and four defeats from their last six matches have seen them slip to second from bottom in the table. That has left the Strikers needing a big finish to their regular season if they are going to have a tilt for the title.
Unfortunately for the Strikers, they go into this match off the back of comfortably their worst performance of the season so far when they got torn apart by the Melbourne Stars last time out. Their bowling went round the park in that match and their batting was horrendously bad. What made it worse was they finally found a way to get their best player, Alex Carey, up the order to open the batting. They will need much better here.
Brisbane Heat
The Brisbane Heat also go into this match off the back of one of their worst performances of the season. That was probably more of a surprise because they had been in decent form up until then but the Perth Scorchers completely outplayed them from start to finish and clearly a reaction is going to be needed here if they want to maintain control of their own destiny. A win here will put right the wrongs of the last game but another loss could be decisive.
One thing which has impressed me throughout the competition as far as the Heat is concerned is their use of the X-Factor. They have actually put together a plan for how to use it rather than the majority of sides who seem to react to things in order to use it. The fact that they plan mean they are often much better in the second half of innings and that is certainly no bad thing. The last match should have acted as a reminder to their batsmen that there is no room for taking the foot off the gas.
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Team News
The Adelaide Strikers welcome Travis Head and Michael Neser back into their squad for the first time this season. Peter Siddle is also in the squad and all three are likely to come back into the side. Cameron Valente, Liam O’Connor and Ryan Gibson could be the vulnerable trio.
The Brisbane Heat also have a couple of Test players returning to their squad with Mitch Swepson and Marnus Labuschagne coming back in. Simon Milenko and Jack Wood come out of the squad with Matt Kuhnemann likely to make way in the XI for one of them.
Betting
With the two sides getting Test players back there is a 50:50 element to this one. If I was betting on a side to win I would probably go with the home side Adelaide Strikers but I’m well aware that the Brisbane Heat offer a threat so I’m in no rush to go deep with the match betting. I’m happy to get stuck into one of the many side markets that are on show here. That comes in the form of the sixes market where I think the 10.5 line is a little on the low side.
We all know the Adelaide Oval isn’t the biggest ground in the world square of the wicket and what I like about this match is that there are plenty of left handers and right handers in the Adelaide line up that they can constantly target the square boundaries while the Brisbane Heat have plenty of hitters who can clear them as well. There’s no mystery in either of these attacks which will give the batsmen confidence and on what is nearly always a good batting deck we should see the big shots fly. I like over 10.5 sixes here.
Tips
Back Over 10.5 sixes for a 3/10 stake at 1.73 with BetVictor
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