The second part of the double header in the Big Bash League on Saturday sees the hottest two sides in action as the defending champions Perth Scorchers take on the Brisbane Heat in a potentially exciting game at Optus Stadium.
Perth have started the season very well and will be looking to make serene progress in their title defence. Things haven’t gone quite to plan for the Heat but they are showing signs of life and will fancy their chances here.
Perth Scorchers
The Perth Scorchers are no strangers to leading the way in this competition and often when they do they go on and win the title and that will be their aim here. They have won five of their opening seven matches and from this position they won’t just want to make it into the postseason, they will be eyeing u a place in the top two to get the two chances to make the final should they need them. Another five wins from their last seven should get them there.
Perth haven’t always batted brilliantly and that is why they go into this match off the back of a surprise defeat to the Sydney Thunder but in the main their bowling has gone along well. That bowling will have the services of Lance Morris available to it here after he was released from the Test squad in time to play here. Faf du Plessis has gone now and Adam Lyth leaves soon so there will be a lot of disruption in the Perth batting which they need to navigate successfully.
Brisbane Heat
This was a season which was going absolutely nowhere for the Brisbane Heat after five matches. They had lost four of those five games and looked like they needed a huge turnaround. Since then they have piled on the runs in a win over the Sydney Sixers and were in a good position to put a daunting total up in the reverse match against the same opponents only for the rain to come in and put a halt to those plans.
In many ways, the aim of the Heat was just to be competitive and remain in the hunt for qualification in the first half of the season. The reason why I say that is because they have Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne on the horizon of returning to the squad and you would think the Heat will finish the season strongly. Their inclusions will strengthen an already strong looking batting unit so if the bowlers can deliver the goods the Heat could be the team to keep an eye on over the latter part of the season.
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Key Players
Given the confidence that Brisbane are finding at the top of the order the Perth Scorchers could do with early wickets to dent that positivity. With Jhye Richardson potentially out for the rest of the season Jason Behrendorff becomes a big player for the home side.
Colin Munro spent last season playing for the Perth Scorchers so while some opposing batters struggle with the difference in pace and bounce at this venue, the Kiwi can have no excuses on that score and the Heat could do with him leading the way.
Betting
While the Brisbane Heat have come to the party with the bat in the last couple of matches they will go well to get after this Perth Scorchers attack in the same way they went for the Sydney Sixers one so I’m a little surprised that the boundaries line for this one is as high as 34.5. The dimensions of this ground just don’t play into the hands of a multitude of boundaries and with a Perth bowling attack that is elite and a batting unit which hasn’t really fired on all cylinders and has lost a key cog in the wheel I don’t see anything changing.
We have had four matches on this ground this season and the boundary total has read 30, 28, 28 and 29 and the scores have generally been low. We’ve seen all summer that there has been something in the pitches here and while you couldn’t call the Brisbane Heat brilliant with the ball on paper, their seamers are more than capable of extracting what they need out of this wicket. This doesn’t feel like a high scoring match to me and so I’m happy to play the under on this boundary line once again.
Tips
Back Under 34.5 boundaries for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with William Hill
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