The second half of the Big Bash League double header on Saturday comes from The Gabba as the Brisbane Heat take on the defending champions Sydney Sixers in what is a big game at both ends of the standings.
The Heat have one win from their five matches and are beginning to get a need for winning soon with the top five pulling away from them whereas the Sixers are sitting in second place and are already getting into position to launch a strong defence of their title.
Brisbane Heat
This hasn’t been a great start to the campaign for the Brisbane Heat at all but they go into this match stronger in personnel than they have been so far in this competition and it will be interesting to see if that brings out their best performance. They will feel unlucky that they didn’t win the previous match against the Hobart Hurricanes but the truth of the matter is that they threw it away, bordering on bottled it regardless of the fallout from the final ball of the game.
One thing we are looking for the Brisbane Heat to offer up an improvement in is their batting department. That was an issue going into the previous match and it was certainly highlighted during it as they threw away a near impossible position to lose from. If they can sort out their batting issues then they can take comfort from the fact that they are bowling well now and with Mujeeb looking like he is hitting top form that shouldn’t change.
Sydney Sixers
The Sydney Sixers have been in great form so far this season with four wins from five matches. That is actually four wins on the spin because they lost their opening match to the Hobart Hurricanes. They should have won that game as well although on the flip side of that they have gotten out of trouble with a couple of insane finishes in their last two matches, so they are probably about right in their overall ledger.
The Sixers have been surprisingly slack with the ball in the last couple of matches but to their credit they have got the job done with the bat. They have had to rely on a couple of special innings with the bat to do that and I’m not convinced that is a decent long-term strategy. They either need their batting order to produce the goods as a whole or they need their bowlers to suddenly come to the party once again.
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Team News
The Brisbane Heat have Joe Denly available for the first time this season in this match. Joe Burns bring dropped from the Test squad has seen him released to play Big Bash League for the Heat as well and he is in the squad for this one. Chris Lynn remains out.
The Sydney Sixers have Jake Ball in their squad for the first time this season. He replaces Jason Holder who has left the competition now. That could be the only change for the Sixers from their last outing against the Renegades.
Betting
I’ll take a performance bet in this match and it comes in the form of the Dan Christian line which I think might not be high enough at 34.5 for the role that he plays for the Sydney Sixers at the minute, one which might actually have grown in importance after Jason Holder has left the camp now. He will have more responsibility with the bat and is likely to bowl more overs with the ball and in the key overs where the wickets fall more naturally.
When you consider that already in this tournament Christian has a three wicket haul, a two wicket spell and he’s clobbered 50 with the bat, there is enough to think that he is going to have a large role to play in this contest if the Sixers are to win. The Heat are good enough to get him to the crease with the bat and lack batting depth if he is bowling the death or in the power surge overs. Throw in the chance of catches and I think he can cover the 34.5pts over the course of the match.
Tips
WON – Back D.Christian’s Performance – Over 34.5pts for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with 888sport
Back him here:
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