We know the Perth Scorchers are through to the Big Bash League final which they will host at the WACA on Saturday and on Wednesday we will find out who their opponents in the title game will be.
The second semi-final sees the Brisbane Heat hosting the Sydney Sixers at the Gabba. Brisbane finished second in the table which gives them home advantage in this match. The Sixers were the last team to secure their playoff qualification and will hope to use that momentum to their advantage.
Brisbane Heat
The second half of the season hasn’t been as strong for the Brisbane Heat as the first one was but they were always going to struggle to keep up their impressive start to the campaign. As it was they had already done enough in the early part of the season to ensure they could limp into the playoffs but now they need to turn it on again.
The main reason for the slump in form has been their return to something bordering on normality with the bat. Chris Lynn’s call up to the Australia ODI squad and his subsequent injury have had something to do with that. On the plus side the bowling has improved markedly as the season has gone on and that bodes well for them here.
Sydney Sixers
This is officially knockout cricket but the Sixers have already played one match of that given that they had to win their final regular season game else they would have been out of the tournament. They weren’t brilliant against the Melbourne Stars but it wasn’t a time for looking good, it was all about winning the match and they did that.
Sydney haven’t really put on a decent batting performance all season so they will be hoping they have saved their best for the big occasion. They have a much longer batting line up with everyone fit now so there are no excuses for them. On the plus side they have bowled well for much of the season.
Team News
Brisbane Heat have Samuel Badree back for this huge match which will be a big boost. There is talk that Chris Lynn could play but he hasn’t been named in the squad so perhaps that is all hot air.
Sydney Sixers have made one change to their squad for the game with Jordan Silk coming in for Will Somerville. It would be a surprise if the Sixers aren’t unchanged though.
Betting
I appreciate I may be getting boring but as with all the other matches at The Gabba in this tournament I can’t get involved in the match outcome because of how hard the ground is to defend. There have been two matches won batting first and two batting second here this season. The two batting first have been most recently. Perth achieved the first and Melbourne Renegades the second although Brisbane would have got home in that had they not had a major brain fade off the final ball.
If I was to bet on the match outcome I’d probably chance the Sixers but the price is nowhere near as big as I would have wanted to tempt me in so I’m going to the side markets for a bet on this one.
I’m expecting a high scoring match here. That might go against the trends of what both have delivered with the bat recently but then so did their regular season meeting here where 186 wasn’t enough for the Heat to win.
That match could be a decent form guide. The question is whether to take the sixes or the total runs in the match and I’m siding with the latter as there is a little more margin in that market. We’ve seen in recent matches here that there has been a huge boundary to one side so picking up twos and threes have bumped up the scoring while the short side is open to propel a score.
The last match on this ground saw 399 runs scored and there were 377 when these two met here earlier in the season. All things being equal I think we’ll go well in excess of 343.5 runs.
Tips
Back Over 343.5 runs for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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