Your ultimate guide for one of the showpieces of the KFC BBL|13 season as the Strikers host the Stars in their annual New Year's Eve fixture
All you need to know: Adelaide Strikers v Melbourne Stars
Match facts
Who: Adelaide Strikers v Melbourne Stars
What: Match 20, BBL|13
Where: Adelaide Oval
When: Sunday, December 31. Bat flip at 6pm local (6.30pm AEDT), first ball at 6.45pm local (7.15pm AEDT)
How to watch: Channel Seven, 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: Shawn Craig (field), Mike Graham-Smith (field), Donovan Koch (third), Eloise Sheridan (fourth), Steve Davis (match referee)
Match squads
Strikers: Matt Short (c), Wes Agar, James Bazley, Cameron Boyce, Brendan Doggett, Adam Hose (England), Thomas Kelly, Chris Lynn, Ben Manenti, Harry Nielsen (wk), Jamie Overton (England), D'Arcy Short, Henry Thornton
Stars: Glenn Maxwell (c), Hilton Cartwright, Brody Couch, Sam Harper, Nick Larkin, Dan Lawrence (England), Jono Merlo, Joel Paris, Corey Rocchiccioli, Tom Rogers, Mark Steketee, Marcus Stoinis, Imad Wasim (Pakistan), Beau Webster
Form guide
Strikers: LLWDL (most recent first)
Back-to-back defeats to the Sixers and Renegades has seen the Strikers slide out of the top four to fifth with one win and a no result from their four matches. Fortunately, they've got a game in hand on their nearest rivals and a win over the Stars would help them stay in touch with the tournament's three frontrunners.
Stars: WWLLL
Have won consecutive matches in the BBL for the first time since January 2022 with wins over the Sixers and Hurricanes. Captain Glenn Maxwell says it's finally "trending the right way" for the Stars and they're starting to get some rewards for the structures and plans they've put in place. They now find themselves in the top four and eyeing a return to finals for the first time in four seasons.
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
In case we had forgotten, Chris Lynn gave us a destructive reminder against the Renegades on Friday night as to why he's the best batter this competition has ever seen with a 34-ball 56, clearing the rope four times. Not only did he become the first player to score 3500 BBL runs during his innings, but he also became the first batter to hit 200 BBL sixes with his nearest rival Aaron Finch who is 82 sixes behind on 118. Lynn has passed 50 runs in an innings the most times of any batter in the BBL (29) with a top score of 101, and his strike rate of 148.11 is the third highest of any batter to score more than 1000 runs.
Right-hand batter Thomas Kelly has been included in the Strikers squad for the first time in BBL|13 with Jake Weatherald and David Payne left out of the group that lost to the Renegades at Marvel Stadium on Friday night.
It's a big game for Marcus Stoinis who hasn't scored more than 50 runs in an innings since the Indian Premier League in May and has started BBL|13 with scores of 2, 13, 9, 6 and 0. The allrounder was under similar pressure heading into last year's New Year's Eve clash with the Strikers when injury and Covid curtailed his start to the tournament, and he responded with a player-of-the-match 74 off 35 balls to help the Stars see in 2023 in style.
Former England Test batter Dan Lawrence comes into the Stars 14-player squad as an overseas replacement player and fast bowler Brody Couch has also been added with Pakistan pair Haris Rauf and Usama Mir released for national duties.
Head-to-head
Overall: Strikers (8 wins), Stars (9 wins)
At Adelaide Oval: Strikers (7 wins), Stars (2 wins)
Most runs: Jon Wells (363), Marcus Stoinis (316), Glenn Maxwell (239), Alex Carey (189), Tim Ludeman (172)
Most wickets: Adam Zampa (14), Ben Laughlin (11), Peter Siddle (11), Wes Agar (10), James Faulkner (8)
The venue
Rapid stats
- Melbourne Stars have won their past two matches against the Strikers and a third consecutive victory in this match would equal their longest winning streak against the Adelaide-based club from BBL|01 to BBL|03. The Strikers last beat the Stars on January 15, 2022, when Henry Thornton claimed 4-26 to help restrict Melbourne to 8-132 chasing their 6-155.
- Adelaide Strikers have won only one of their last eight BBL matches and have lost their past four games on New Year's Eve. However, their most recent victory did come in their most recent game at Adelaide Oval on December 19 against the Sydney Thunder.
- Adelaide Strikers have a collective batting average of 33.5 this BBL season, the best of any team in the competition. Melbourne Stars (15.5) are ranked last in this category.
- Chris Lynn (222.22) and Glenn Maxwell (214.29) have the third and fourth highest strike rates respectively in the four over Powerplay in BBL|13. Lynn has scored 20 runs from his nine deliveries faced in the Powerplay this season while Maxwell has scored 45 runs from his 21 balls faced.
- Jamie Overton (Adelaide Strikers) has bowled 72 deliveries in BBL|13, the most of any player without conceding a six in the campaign.
- Stars pair Imad Wasim (4.75) and Marcus Stoinis (5.00) have the second and third best economy rates in the middle overs (5-15) in BBL|13. After Sydney Thunder off-spinner Chris Green (62.5 per cent), Imad, along with Maxwell and Melbourne Renegades' Mujeeb Ur Rahman, also has the highest dot ball percentage for spinners in the four over Powerplay with 50 per cent of deliveries going for no runs.
- D'Arcy Short (95) is five away from registering 100 BBL sixes. If he achieves the feat in this match, he will become the sixth batter to reach the milestone after teammate Lynn (200), Aaron Finch (118), Maxwell (115), Ben McDermott (112) and Alex Hales (100), who hit the mark in his most recent match.
- Cameron Boyce (96) is four wickets away from becoming the 10th bowler to reach 100 in the Big Bash League.
What's on the line?
This New Year's Eve showdown looms as a crunch clash for both sides with just one point separating the Stars (fourth) and Strikers (fifth). Whoever comes out on top will start 2024 inside the top four with the finals well and truly within reach.
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