There is a double header of action in the Big Bash League on Saturday but with the forecast not great in Sydney we’ll focus our attention on the second match which sees the Adelaide Strikers hosting the defending champions Brisbane Heat.
The Strikers now find themselves bottom of the table and their season will end if they don’t win this match. Brisbane are in the top four but there are a queue of sides ready to overtake them should they lose here.
Adelaide Strikers
The Adelaide Strikers have found no consistency this season at all. To be fair to them, they haven’t been helped by having to face the current leaders Hobart Hurricanes twice in their opening seven matches but even so they would have wanted a better return from their campaign so far than two wins. The good thing is that they were in a similar position to this last year and they found it in themselves to come good and nearly made it through to the final.
They will need to do that again if they are going to stay alive for the season and they will be assisted in that effort by the return from Australian Test duty of Alex Carey. That will pep up their batting but in truth it is the bowling which needed reinforcing. Nevertheless, if they can outscore teams then it doesn’t really matter what happens with the ball but you would think the Strikers would be better off batting second here so winning the bat flip would be advantageous.
Brisbane Heat
The Brisbane Heat started their title defence like a house on fire with a couple of wins in their opening two matches and it looked like they were going to cruise into the top four and put up a really strong defence of their crown but then they ran into a bit of difficulty with three defeats on the spin around a washout and it looked like their hopes were in tatters but a good win last time out has got them back into the top four and victory here would consolidate that position.
The Heat losses came courtesy of a bit of a struggle with the bat and although they won last time out and chased down a decent total in the process, they were assisted by the Sydney Thunder being a little light on personnel after that clash in their previous match. In the end one partnership got the Heat home but they really need their top order to start to come to the party if they are going to make it a successful defence of the title.
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Key Players
Alex Carey has been away for the whole tournament but he looks set to slot into the Strikers XI somewhere and his side could do with some big hitting from the international star if they are going to keep their season alive.
Max Bryant delivered some pyrotechnics to get the Brisbane Heat home against the Sydney Thunder last time out and he might be needed for more here if this is the sort of high scoring game it looks like being on paper.
Betting
I think it would be foolish not to expect sixes to come along fairly naturally here. The ground lends itself to that anyway with the shorter square boundaries and these two sides can hit the ball a long way so that makes more sense. When they met in Brisbane on a much bigger ground than this there were 14 sixes and now there is Alex Carey to throw into the mix as well so that bodes well when we are looking for a 12.5 sixes line to be covered.
We are in that stage of the season where teams might not just have an eye on winning but also on their net run rate and as luck would have it for us here the run rate of these two sides is negative so both could do with giving it a boost in what is a very congested middle of the table. That is something else to add to the sixes and with the wicket in Adelaide generally good for batting and there being bang on 12 sixes in a match where the first innings score was 142 in the last game here, in a higher scoring match which is expected we should get the one more that we need.
Tips
Back Over 12.5 sixes for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Betfair
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