Home advantage throughout the play-offs is at stake in the Big Bash League on Thursday when the defending champions Perth Scorchers take on the Adelaide Strikers in the final match of the regular season for both teams.
Both sides know they will be at home in the semi-final next week but the winners here will guarantee being at home in the final too should they make it and that should give this one all the competitive edge it may need.
Perth Scorchers
You have to hand it to the Perth Scorchers. They have been without a number of star players for much of the competition but whether they are dominating matches or in a bad position they always seem to give themselves a chance of winning. They really are the benchmark for franchise cricket in the way they play.
They might not have the stand out names that some of the teams in this competition have with the bat but their batting unit is mighty effective and with the ball they can be devastating. Even when sides do get a gallop on them like the Hobart Hurricanes did last time out they always have something to respond with.
Adelaide Strikers
To be fair the Adelaide Strikers have been equally as impressive as the Scorchers this season. They might not have lost the number of personnel that Perth have but they still lost an important player in Travis Head halfway through the season but that has not affected them as much as it could have done which is to their credit.
The Strikers bowling attack has been very efficient this season. Rashid Khan has been a revelation in the tournament and the seamers have stepped up and bowled well around him. I keep on saying that their light batting line up is a concern but they haven’t really exposed their lower order too often. That is also to their credit.
Team News
Perth Scorchers were hoping to have Shaun Marsh back for this match but that has not materialised. One man they were not expecting to have is Jhye Richardson but he has been released from international duty and will feature.
Adelaide Strikers remain without Travis Head who is on international duty and they have surprisingly chosen to rest Peter Siddle although with a home semi-final guaranteed it might make sense to have him fresh for that.
[the_ad_group id=”3624″]
Betting
The light batting line up of the Adelaide Strikers has not been exposed too often this season but the one side who did open it right up were the Perth Scorchers and as such I think the home side are the ones to be with in this match.
I can’t help feeling that if Perth get two or three early wickets they could roll through this Adelaide side once again. Perth certainly have the artillery to get those early wickets and they have the power with the bat to chase anything down or nurdle their way to victory. This is the last Big Bash match ever at the WACA and the Scorchers will want to leave the Furnace on a high. I think they’ll do just that.
Tips
WON – Back Perth Scorchers to beat Adelaide Strikers for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with Bwin
Back them here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2018
