Scorchers to feed off Super Kings synergy in historic BBL opener

The symmetry of Perth Scorchers being one of the teams to open the KFC BBL|16 season in the league's historic Chennai match hasn't been lost on long-time head coach Adam Voges.

As the undisputed kings of the Big Bash with a record six championships, the Scorchers were an easy pick to play in the competition's first match on foreign soil.

In Chennai, they'll find a fan base that has enjoyed as much success with their local team as their own supporters have in Perth, with the Super Kings tied with Mumbai Indians for the most Indian Premier League titles (five), as well as winning the Champions League twice before the event was scrapped in 2015.

The Scorchers' parochial home crowd, averaging above 38,000 per game in the past two seasons, creates an atmosphere that rivals even the loudest IPL audiences.

And, like Chennai Super Kings do with a win percentage of 64 at their home ground, MA Chidambaram Stadium, the Scorchers also have a formidable Big Bash record at Perth Stadium, where they have won 66 per cent of their matches.

"Certainly, the incredible home ground record the Super Kings have here is something that we pride ourselves on back at home as well, so I see the synergies between the Super Kings and us and the success (we've both had) in the past," Voges said in Chennai last week.

"We're the defending (BBL) champions – I don't love that terminology because you don't defend much in T20 cricket.

"It's a new season for us, where we'll be hunting new silverware, and that starts here in Chennai and that's what we're really excited about.

"For us, it's about embracing as much of those differences (between the BBL and IPL). The BBL is a great product, a family-friendly product back at home, and hopefully we can bring that same sort of atmosphere (to Chennai) and hopefully by the end of the trip we've won ourselves a few more Scorchers fans along the way."

Despite the many similarities, the starkest contrast between the two teams is the home conditions they play in.

Chennai's strength was for a long time the formidable spin pair of Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin, while Perth pride themselves on fast bowling supremacy given the quick and bouncy pitches they traditionally play on.

While the two grounds have a similar average runs per wicket (Chennai – 25.69, Perth – 23.18) and overall run rate (Chennai – 8.02, Perth – 8.06) in the T20 format, the tactics of bowling teams have differed considerably.

As expected, spinners boast a lower combined average (27.73 to 28.64) compared to their pace counterparts at MA Chidambaram Stadium, while the opposite is true at Perth Stadium (spin – 27.5, pace – 23.7).

Spin bowlers have been responsible for 35 per cent of the IPL wickets taken in Chennai compared to just 22 per cent at Perth Stadium in the BBL, where quicks have dominated with more than 70 per cent of dismissals at a strike rate of 17.5.

But that has shifted in recent years, with spin bowling at Perth Stadium proving more effective than at any other ground in the BBL, responsible for the most wickets (63) and second-best strike rate (18.2) over the past three seasons among the league's nine main venues (including Manuka Oval in Canberra).

Voges is hoping it turns and believes they've built a squad that will thrive in the season opener.

"We've got Ashton Agar, Cooper Connolly and we've just signed Calvin Harrison from the UK, who I've worked a little bit with in the Hundred, who's a tall wrist spinner," Voges said.

"So we are certainly hoping and expecting there will be conditions that favour spin and that's what we'll be preparing for.

"We (also) have a number of players who have experience in the conditions over here.

"We've got IPL stars in Mitch Marsh and Cooper Connolly that will hopefully be part of our squad that comes over, so (we'll be) leaning into their experiences, as well as Ashton Turner and Jhye Richardson, another couple of guys who have played in these conditions.

"I also live just down the road from Mike Hussey, who's been part of the Super Kings coaching staff for a long time. I'll be leaning on all the contacts that we have in order to understand the conditions and Chennai itself as best we can … and communicate those experiences, particularly to a few of our younger guys where this will be their first experience in India and try to upskill them as quickly as we possibly can to give them the best chance to go out and succeed."

Championship-winning Scorcher Finn Allen won't be part of the squad heading to India after the destructive opener was poached by rivals Melbourne Stars on a three-year deal following a restructure of Big Bash contracting rules that boosted the earning potential of the league's biggest overseas and domestic stars.

"We're obviously really disappointed to lose Finn, he was incredible for us last season and helped us be successful," Voges said.

"But a change of rules meant that there were some teams with pretty deep pockets that were able to offer something to Finn that we couldn't and that's the nature of sport, I understand that.

"While it's incredibly disappointing not to have Finn with us, we are still really confident in the squad that we're putting together.

"We're going to make sure that we're as well prepared as we possibly can be leading into this first game and really put on a good show for the people of Chennai and India."