New skippers Matt Short and Colin Munro face off as the Strikers open their KFC BBL|13 campaign by hosting the Heat
All you need to know: Adelaide Strikers v Brisbane Heat
Match facts
Who: Adelaide Strikers v Brisbane Heat
What: Match 3, BBL|13
Where: Adelaide Oval
When: Saturday, December 9. Bat flip at 6pm local (6.30pm AEDT), first ball at 6.45pm local (7.15pm AEDT)
How to watch: Fox Cricket, Kayo Sports
Buy tickets: Tickets are on sale here
Live scores: Match Centre
Highlights, news and reactions after the match: cricket.com.au, the CA Live and Big Bash apps
Officials: Nathan Johnstone (field), Shawn Craig (field), Eloise Sheridan (third), Peter George (fourth), Simon Fry (match referee)
Match squads
Strikers: Matt Short (c), Wes Agar, James Bazley, Cameron Boyce, Brendan Doggett, Adam Hose (England), Chris Lynn, Ben Manenti, Harry Nielsen (wk), Jamie Overton (England), D'Arcy Short, Henry Thornton, Jake Weatherald
Heat: Colin Munro (New Zealand) (c), Xavier Bartlett, Sam Billings (England), Josh Brown, Max Bryant, Spencer Johnson, Matthew Kuhnemann, Michael Neser, Nathan McSweeney, Mitch Swepson, Charlie Wakim, Paul Walter (England), Jack Wildermuth, Jack Wood
Form guide
Strikers: LLLLL (most recent first)
After a fast start to last season where they sat top of the standings after their first three matches, the Strikers lost their last five on the bounce to miss the finals. With a reduced 10-game regular season in BBL|13, they can't afford to be chasing the pack and will need another strong start to contend this summer.
Heat: WLWWW
Started BBL|13 with a bang on Thursday night with a club-record 103-run demolition of the Melbourne Stars at home. The Heat appear one of the teams to beat this season and will look to open their campaign with back-to-back wins after narrowly falling short in last season's decider against the Scorchers.
KFC BBL|13 standings
| Team | M | W | L | T | N/R | NRR | Ded. | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1
HEA
|
10 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0.972 | 0 | 16 |
|
2
SIX
|
10 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0.339 | 0 | 14 |
|
3
SCO
|
10 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0.725 | 0 | 13 |
|
4
STR
|
10 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0.331 | 0 | 11 |
|
5
HUR
|
10 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 0 | -0.268 | 0 | 8 |
|
6
STA
|
10 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 0 | -1.051 | 0 | 8 |
|
7
REN
|
10 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 2 | -0.288 | 0 | 6 |
|
8
THU
|
10 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 2 | -0.652 | 0 | 4 |
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
T: Ties
N/R: No results
NRR: Net Run Rate
Ded.: Deductions
PTS: Total points
Players to watch
New Strikers skipper Matt Short returns for BBL|13 as one of the competition's hottest commodities. His form for Adelaide over the past two campaigns landed him an Indian Premier League stint, and an ODI and T20I debut for Australia during the off-season, also spending time as a reserve squad member in the opening stages of the 50-over World Cup. He'll be out to make another statement in their season opener with a T20 World Cup on the horizon next year where he'll be joined at the top of the order by new Strikers recruit D'Arcy Short.
Short's captaincy counterpart for the match will be New Zealand international Colin Munro who opened his BBL|13 campaign with a blazing 99no against the Stars. Munro takes on the leadership with Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne departing for Test duties ahead of the three-match series against Pakistan beginning on Thursday. He'll likely open with the big-hitting Josh Brown who comes into the Heat's 13-player squad after a breakout campaign last season.
Head-to-head
Overall: Strikers (9 wins), Heat (9 wins)
At Adelaide Oval: Strikers (3 wins), Heat (6 wins)
Most runs: Jimmy Peirson (306), Matt Renshaw (278), Chris Lynn (265), Jake Weatherald (234), Alex Carey (212)
Most wickets: Rashid Khan (19), Mark Steketee (16), Peter Siddle (16), Wes Agar (15), Michael Neser (15)
The venue
Rapid stats
- Strikers blaster Chris Lynn – the BBL's all-time leading run-scorer with 3421 – comes up against his former side for the third time and is just 79 runs away from becoming the first batter to reach 3500 Big Bash runs. Lynn is also six sixes away from becoming the first players to clear the rope 200 times in the competition.
- The Heat won both games between the two teams last season and have also won their past two games at Adelaide Oval where they boast a 6-3 record over the Strikers.
- Batting first or second doesn't seem to matter in this head-to-head match-up with both teams recording five victories batting first and four as the chasing team. The Heat have set an average total of 160 runs batting first against the Strikers, while the Strikers have set an average score of 158.
What's on the line?
Two-from-two to start the season would be a huge statement by the Heat, sending a message to their rivals that they are a serious contender in BBL|13. They'll be missing Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Jimmy Peirson and Matt Renshaw who are all away on representative duties for this match and getting over the line would also highlight the depth of their squad. For the Strikers it's a chance to right the wrongs after a disappointing finish to last season and prove to onlookers that they don't need Rashid Khan to be a force in the BBL.
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