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Round 8 of the 2014/15 Big Bash League season continues on Wednesday night with the Melbourne Stars taking on the Perth Scorchers at the MCG in what promises to be a cracker of a game. Join The Roar from 7:40pm (AEDT) for live scores and coverage of the game.
With the top four locked in for this year’s Big Bash we know that both the Melbourne Stars and the Perth Scorchers will be playing in the semi-finals of the Big Bash and possibly even against each other.
Currently the Scorchers sit in second place on 10 points with a net run rate of 0.848 whilst the Starts sit in 3rd place on 8 points with a net run rate of 0.337. Meanwhile the Sydney Sixers who play against the Sydney Thunder tomorrow night currently sit in the final top four position with eight points and net run rate of -0.023.
All of those ladder positions make this an incredibly important game for the Stars. If they can win by a huge margin they could end up hosting the Scorchers in the semi-final. A loss and they could be facing a tough trip to Adelaide to play the Strikers who haven’t looked challenged during the tournament and wrapped up the minor premiership the other night against the Melbourne Renegades.
However for the Stars a trip to Perth would be just as difficult so expect them to come out swinging to try and get a home semi-final. As for the Scorchers, a win confirms them a home semi, however a close loss still gives them a home semi, as long as the Sixers don’t improve their net run rate by so much as to overtake theirs. No doubt the pressure is on both teams in this late season match of BBL|04.
For the Stars Cameron White has been called up to the Australian ODI squad meaning that the Stars will not only lose one of their best batsman for tonight’s game, but will also lose their captain.
It will be interesting to see who the Stars put as their new captain but amongst the candidates are Robert Quiney and Kevin Pietersen.
For the Scorchers they welcome back one of their strike bowlers, Nathan Coulter Nile, who has missed the last three games that the scorchers have played due to a hamstring injury, and Shaun Marsh also comes back into the squad. However, since then Marsh has been added to the Australian ODI squad meaning he will miss tonight’s game as well and Cameron Bancroft will hold his spot.
No doubt one of the biggest battles in the Melbourne Stars versus Perth Scorchers game will be that of John Hastings versus Jason Behrendorff. Both bowlers have been in excellent form and sit equal top of the BBL|04 wicket takers list. These two could go a long way to deciding how the game plays out.
Last time the Stars met the Scorchers was during the 2013/14 version of the Big Bash. The Stars managed to put 161 on the board at the MCG, before John Hastings picked up three wickets in a man of the match performance to restrict the Scorchers to 141.
My Prediction: Expect the Stars to be fractionally too strong at home, but not strong enough to elevate their net run rate higher than the Scorchers.
Without doubt it should be a fantastic game, so join me here on the roar from 7:40pm (AEDT) for our live coverage of the Stars versus Scorchers and remember to leave your thoughts and comments throughout the game.