The second part of the Big Bash League double header on Saturday comes from The Gabba where a patched up Brisbane Heat side play host to a floundering Hobart Hurricanes team in what could be a defining match in the competition.
These two sides have just suffered a dip in their form in recent times. The Heat have dropped off because of Covid whereas a couple of sloppy displays at the wrong time have cost the Hurricanes. Both could do with a win here.
Brisbane Heat
When you consider that during the game with the Melbourne Renegades last time out Darren Lehmann confirmed that half the team hadn’t met each other until a few hours before the game, the Brisbane Heat didn’t put up too much of a bad showing. They were light with the bat and didn’t finish their batting innings particularly well but it wasn’t the worst effort we’ve seen. To be fair to them they battled hard with the ball but probably lacked firepower against elite batters.
The Heat are going to be mixing and matching in this match as well but you would imagine there will be some natural progression now that all those players who made their debut in the previous match will know what to expect and what the level entails. If they can put up a few more runs they might not need a whole lot more to be competitive in this match and we’ve seen the Heat edge matches they hang in on before.
Hobart Hurricanes
The Hobart Hurricanes were going along great guns but they have ground to a bit of a halt with successive defeats in which they didn’t play well in either. One of those losses was to the Brisbane Heat so they will be eager to make up for that here. If they can win this match then it would give them a fair amount of breathing space in the race for the playoffs but a defeat here would have them looking over their shoulders.
If there is a positive for the Hurricanes from those two losses then it comes in the form of the fact they don’t need to search too deep to see what they were doing wrong. They haven’t batted well in either game, posting 136/8 and 126 and those sorts of scores aren’t going to get the job done. I’ve mentioned a few times that they are very much Ben McDermott or nothing with the bat and it is no coincidence that he has failed in both of those innings.
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Team News
The Brisbane Heat haven’t named their squad for this match yet but given they only played a couple of days ago it would be unlikely anyone who missed that one with Covid will be able to play here. Nobody will be able to come into the squad either with the Queensland border restrictions.
The Hobart Hurricanes will be forced into a few changes for this match. Matthew Wade is now taking a break from cricket so Peter Handscomb will captain the side. Harry Brook and Jordan Thompson have been left out after being a close contact of a Covid case so Tom Lammonby, Gabe Bell and Will Sanders come into the squad.
Betting
These two sides are bang out of form teams and there are going to be a number of changes in both units which makes betting on the match tricky but I sense that Brisbane Heat can be competitive in this match if they can just take care of Ben McDermott. The Hobart Hurricanes are really struggling with the bat outside of him and the absence of Matthew Wade and Harry Brook isn’t going to help the depth of their batting.
I’m not brave enough to back the Brisbane Heat to win the match but they are in receipt of a pretty big handicap by T20 standards at 4.5 wickets and 23.5 runs and I think they can keep within that. Mujeeb took three wickets in the reverse match between these two and there are enough Brisbane batters who looked in decent enough touch against the Renegades for them to be competitive here. The pressure is all on the Hurricanes in this one and while they might get over the line I’m not convinced they’ll thrash Brisbane.
Tips
Back Brisbane Heat (+4.5wickets/23.5runs) to beat Hobart Hurricanes for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Bet365
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