The Scorchers and Strikers face off in Perth for a chance to keep their BBL title hopes alive, with both teams missing key players.
Head to Head
A play at the price here with the Scorchers far too short in the market against a Strikers team who have hit form at the right time of the season.
Adelaide have won their last four games to storm into the top four, which included a dominant win over the Scorchers (at home).
Yes, betting against the Strikers in Perth is a somewhat ludicrous idea, given they’ve won 13 of their last 14 finals at Optus, but they may have reached a tipping point in player availability.
Already without Cam Green and Mitch Marsh for the season, and Ashton Turner and Jhye Richardson through injury, the defending champs have now lost their second-best batter in Laurie Evans, who finished fourth for most runs across the tournament and probably opener Stephen Eskinazi with a hand injury. A replacement is likely to be Marcus Harris, who has played two T20 games in five years.
Much will rest on Aaron Hardie as the Scorchers don’t have another top 30 batter on the runs leaderboard in this line-up. The Strikers have runaway tournament leading scorer Matt Short as well as the in-form duo of D’Arcy Short and Jake Weatherald. Chris Lynn and Jamie Overton have departed for the ILT20.
The Scorchers have the deeper bowling but they will need to take early poles or the Strikers top three are capable of setting a monster target or chasing down just about anything.
At the price, the visitors are worth a small play.
Best Best
Hardie is just so solid at home, scoring 30+ in four of his last five knocks at Adelaide Oval. He’s also scored 30+ in three straight against the Strikers. Expect the skipper to stand up with plenty of responsibility on his shoulders.
Value Bet
If our speculative play on the Strikers is to pay off then it will be off the back of a big innings from one of their top three and Weatherald is the value of them. He has returned with a bang after being overlooked for much of the season, scoring 80 and 47 in his two return innings. Weatherald also has also delivered in finals before, famously hitting a match-winning ton to secure the Strikers’ maiden title in 2018.
Same Game Multi
Hardie & M.Short 30+ Runs / Tye & Payne 1+ wicket
