The Big Bash League season continues with another match on Saturday when two sides in the extended logjam on two points in the BBL15 table meet at The Gabba when the Brisbane Heat host the Adelaide Strikers.
Both teams have a win on the board but Brisbane have played an extra match so this is probably more important for them than it is for the Strikers, nevertheless, Adelaide will want to get back to winning ways if they can.
Brisbane Heat
The Brisbane Heat have been involved in three crazy games of cricket this season. They have probably come out on top in the one you wouldn’t have expected them to at any point and lost the two they had a better chance of being competitive in. They won’t want to come away from their fourth game with a 1-3 record though, especially with this match being at home, so this feels like a big match for the Heat even this early in the campaign.
If the Heat are going to deliver what is expected of them this season then they simply have to bowl better than they have done. We are three matches into their campaign and the lowest total they have conceded is 193/4 and you just aren’t to win competitions with that level of bowling efforts. To their credit, they have chased one of the scores down but that isn’t sustainable so their bowlers are going to have to show improvement and fast.
Adelaide Strikers
The Adelaide Strikers opened up their season with a really good win over the Sydney Sixers but they were unable to build on that when they took on the Melbourne Stars in their last match. To be fair to them, the Stars have made a very impressive start to the season so that loss is looking better with every passing contest in this campaign. A win here will move the Strikers up to third in the table and they would still have a game in hand of one of the teams in front of them.
The Strikers have bowled fairly well in this competition but they haven’t hit the heights that we know that they can do with the bat in hand and that is something they will need to find if they want to go as deep as it is possible for them to go in this competition. Their opening pair have the potential to put any team in the tournament to the slaughter but they haven’t clicked yet. There will be no excuses for the Strikers not to bat well here based on what we’ve seen from the Heat bowlers so far.
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Key Players
Xavier Bartlett has the potential to be a leading light for the Brisbane Heat but he hasn’t really delivered yet. He is the stand-in captain for this match and his side could really do with a strong new ball spell from him.
Matt Short remains one of the leading T20 batters in Australia and if he can get going against the Heat new ball bowlers and get the pressure on them once again then there is no reason why the visitors can’t have some joy here.
Betting
The Brisbane Heat were my idea of the team to win this competition when it began, although I expected them to be doing their best work after The Ashes, but the way they have bowled so far makes me think that the Adelaide Strikers are the one to be on here. They should be licking their lips at going up against the Heat bowling attack and while you could argue that the opposite of that is also the case, Brisbane are missing their captain Nathan McSweeney which just lightens their batting order.
That might prove to be the difference in what you would imagine to be a high scoring game. Adelaide have three overseas bowlers to choose from and they can often be the difference in these franchise tournaments. If this does turn into the shootout that it very well could do then Adelaide are well stocked in batting resources as well so they look to have all bases covered here. The match might well come down to how Brisbane bat against the Adelaide bowlers and I just think the Strikers are worth taking here.
Tips
Back Adelaide Strikers to beat Brisbane Heat for a 3/10 stake at 1.85 with Bet365
