There is an almost finals feel about this game, with both the Sydney Sixers and Perth Scorchers sitting in second position on points on the BBL|03 ladder.
The Sixers had taken second spot by the end of last week, with wins over the Heat and Strikers, and have struck a nice vein of form currently. Their chase of the Strikers’ total in Adelaide on Sunday night was exactly the sort of batting they’ve needed to show this summer, with the experience of Michael Lumb and Marcus North shining through.
Lumb also overcame a scary bouncer from Shaun Tait, which thundered into his helmet grille with destructive consequences. Quite obviously, it could also have been much worse.
Perth surged into second place on the back of a superb late-innings bowling effort against Hobart on Tuesday night, where the Hurricanes turned what could’ve been a comfortable run-chase into a demoralising loss for the visitors.
Man of the match Nathan Coulter-Nile took 2/2 in the penultimate over, and finished with 3/15 from his four overs, but Perth will be without him from here on, after he was selected in the Australian ODI side.
They may be boosted by the return of pace young gun, Pat Cummins, after a long injury lay-off.
On the other side of the contest, the Sixers welcome Steven Smith and Nathan Lyon back into their squad after the overwhelmingly successful Ashes series against England. In an ironic twist, big England paceman Chris Tremlett will also join the Sixers for the rest of BBL|03.
Key Battle: Simon Katich v Josh Hazelwood
The old master versus the young buck. Katich currently sits second on the BBL|03 runs tally behind Renegades captain Aaron Finch, and not even a broken finger has slowed him down, with innings of 75 and 22 since picking up the injury.
Hazelwood also sits second on the wicket-taking list (at the time of writing), albeit with two others with eight wickets, and is striking at a wicket every two overs to be the leader of the Sixers attack.
The fact they’re former NSW teammates only adds to the contest.
Dark Horse: Moises Henriques
The perception about the Sixers allrounder would be that he’s had a quiet tournament, and he probably has if you only look at pure runs and wickets.
But scratch the surface, and the numbers also reveal that his averages and strike rates in both batting and bowling disciplines are right up there among the best of the Sixers squad.
He’s not getting the headlines, but he is getting the job done for his side in BBL|03, and that probably makes him a real ‘dark horse’.
Last Time
December 16, 2012 @ SCG: The Scorchers brought to an end a Sixers winning streak that had netted them the BBL|01 and Champions League T20 titles over the course of 12 games.
Sent in, the Sixers slumped to 6/28 inside 10 overs, with Alfonso Thomas, Michael Beer and a superb return of 4-0-9-1 from Nathan Coulter-Nile doing the damage to limit the home side to 9/113.
Perth only needed to not lose wickets to win, and fifty-run partnerships from openers Shaun Marsh and Herschelle Gibbs, and then Gibbs and Marcus North, allowed the Scorchers to cruise to the seven wicket victory.
Teams
Sixers: Steve Smith (c), Josh Hazlewood, Moises Henriques, Josh Lalor, Brett Lee, Michael Lumb, Nathan Lyon, Nic Maddinson, Marcus North, Stephen O’Keefe, Jordan Silk, Dan Smith, Chris Tremlett
Scorchers: Simon Katich (c), Yasir Arafat, Michael Beer, Jason Behrendorff, Hilton Cartwright, Ryan Duffield, Brad Hogg, Mitch Marsh, Craig Simmons, Alfonso Thomas, Ashton Turner, Adam Voges, Sam Whiteman
Facts and Figures
The Scorchers and Sixers have a history of contests that go the distance. In BBL|01, the Sixers defeated the Scorchers twice, once by one run, and then to claim tournament victory in the final with seven balls remaining. Last season, the Scorchers took the points with four balls to spare.
Michael Lumb’s 54 on the weekend has elevated him to the short list of batsman who have scored more than two half-centuries in BBL|03 (Aaron Finch three Mike Hussey two Cameron White 2)
Scorchers mainstays Simon Katich and Brad Hogg hold the record for most BBL games played (currently 23 matches, but 24 matches should they both play against the Hurricanes on 7 January) and continue to impress. Hogg is currently the BBL’s all-time highest wicket-taker (29 wickets from 23 matches), while Katich recently notched up his highest T20 score (75, against the Thunder last Friday)
Fantasy Big Bashers will be keeping a close eye on this match, with Simon Katich among the Top five batsmen in the fantasy points rankings, Josh Hazelwood and Brad Hogg respectively fourth and fifth among the bowlers, and Mitch Marsh ad Moises Henriques second and third respectively on the all-rounders list.
Broadcast: from 7:40pm AEDT on Channel Ten, and on Fairfax Radio Network.
Twitter: #BBL03
This preview was first published on the Big Bash League website under a new arrangement between The Roar and the BBL. Read the original article here.
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