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Perth Scorchers vs Adelaide Strikers: Big Bash League live scores, blog

16th January, 2014
Teams

Scorchers
Simon Katich, Yasir Arafat, Michael Beer, Jason Behrendorff, Hilton Cartwright, Pat Cummins, Brad Hogg, Mitch Marsh, Craig Simmons, Alfonso Thomas, Ashton Turner, Adam Voges, Sam Whiteman.

Strikers
Johan Botha, Jono Dean, Alex Hales, Travis Head, Jon Holland, Phillip Hughes, Trent Lawford, Tim Ludeman, Michael Neser, Gary Putland, Nathan Reardon, Kane Richardson, Shaun Tait.

Start: 7.40pm AEDT
Venue: WACA, Perth
Betting: $1.69 Scorchers, $2.18 Strikers
TV: Channel Ten (LIVE)
After dominating all season, Perth must trek to the other side of the country to face Sydney in their backyard in the final. (Image: Tenplay)
Roar Guru
16th January, 2014
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7726 Reads

The Perth Scorchers will look to seal their top-four berth in the Big Bash League 2013-14 when they take on the struggling Adelaide Strikers in the 25th game this season on Thursday and you can follow the scores live from 7.40 pm AEDT.

The Scorchers have had a decent run since losing their opening game this season to the Brisbane Heat. In the following five matches, they have won four and much of the credit needs to go to their bowlers.

A look at the top bowlers’ charts has two Scorchers in the top six in terms of wickets taken and two others in the top five when one looks at the economies of those who have bowled at least five overs in the competition.

Add a fifth, Patrick Cummins, to the line-up and the Scorchers will go into this game with a strong arsenal in their ranks.

Cummins was declared fit by Cricket Australia after he played in a couple of lower grade games and will take field for this game, joining the likes of Yasir Arafat, Brad Hogg and Jason Behrendorff in the line-up.

Nathan Coulter-Nile’s national call-up means he will miss this game, but the inclusion of Cummins goes close to compensating for his loss.

The Scorchers’ brand of batting in the competition comes close to how a team would bat in a 50-over game.

In most games, they haven’t relied on their openers to give them a whacking start, more so providing a beginning that lays the right foundation for their lower-order batsmen to exploit.

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There has been a dependence on Simon Katich to score most of the runs at the top, especially now Shaun Marsh has left for national duties, while Mitchell Marsh has provided them with the acceleration towards the end.

In their previous game against the Sixers, Mitchell got a promotion up to three in the order but was dismissed second ball without scoring.

One gets the sense he is a batsman more suited to the second half of the innings and that’s how the Scorchers could decide to use him this time.

As far as the Strikers are concerned, they haven’t yet done justice to their batting prowess so far this season.

Michael Klinger aside, none of the Strikers batsmen feature even in the top 20 of the top batsmen’s list. And rubbing salt into the wound is the fact that Klinger will miss this game because of fitness concerns.

Johan Botha will be back to lead the side but while this is good news as far as leadership is concerned, his addition will mean Bangladesh’s Shakib al Hasan has to sit out. That will further reduce their batting strength.

Three others make it to the Strikers’ 13-man squad, Travis Head, Trent Lawford and Jono Dean, which means at least one of them will make it to the starting XI.

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Join us for the Perth Scorchers v Adelaide Strikers match in the Big Bash League 2013-14 on Thursday and you can follow the live score of this game from 7.40 pm AEDT and post your comments below.

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