The second half of Saturday’s Big Bash League double header comes from Perth as the Perth Scorchers host the Sydney Sixers in a repeat of last season’s final in what is a rare night match at The Furnace.
Historically these two sides have been the best in the Big Bash era and with both of them going into this clash with two wins to their name one of them will break into the pack of three wins and significantly boost their semi-final chances.
The Scorchers dropped their opening match at home against the Adelaide Strikers but soon made up for that with wins over the Heat and the Renegades, the latter being the first ever and only ten wicket win in Big Bash history so the champions are going along nicely.
The Scorchers received a boost when Australia went nowhere near Shaun Marsh for their Test side so he will continue his prospering partnership with his captain Michael Klinger. Andrew Tye, Jason Behrendorff and David Willey form a potent looking bowling attack.
Sydney Sixers really need to win this match. This is their sixth match in the tournament and with just two more to come after this if they don’t win then they will only be able to get to four wins and I don’t see that being enough to qualify so everything is on the line for the former champions.
Sadly for the Sixers they are missing some big players. Captain Moises Henriques has been ruled out of the tournament while Brad Haddin picked up an injury on New Year’s Eve which keeps him out here but one piece of good news was Michael Lumb’s injury in that match isn’t enough to keep him sidelined here. Steve O’Keefe has been chosen in Australia’s Test side so he misses this game.
This is going to be hard work for the Sixers for a couple of reasons. Firstly they have to recover from that brutal bashing they took at the hands of Travis Head on New Year’s Eve and they also have to find a way to put a competitive side together with all the injuries they have.
Competitive is the key point too because my word the Scorchers look good at the minute. They blew the Renegades away last time out and always get better as this tournament goes ahead so I expect them to win here but they’re no price.
One thing that is a price is the sixes, or the lack of them. Matches between these two tend to be low scoring both in runs and sixes and with Perth not used to hosting night matches we’re expecting the batsmen to need some time to adjust to conditions.
Both sides have strength in their bowling attacks and with the Sixers running low on big hitters and the likes of Klinger not being the freest six hitter in the game all the signs are we’ll struggle for sixes here.
With Mitch Marsh, potentially Michael Carberry and Nathan Coulter-Nile all missing for the Scorchers and Haddin and Henriques out for the Sixers some big boys are on the sidelines which can ensure the sixes line remains low between these two good sides again.
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