The Perth Scorchers are the most successful team in Big Bash League history, but is that all about to change in BBL|08? Or will the victories and finals appearances continue?
The men from the west have worked hard over the first seven editions of the BBL to build a winning culture, and there is no doubt they have been well and truly successful.
The biggest change of note this year is that the man responsible for that winning culture, Justin Langer, is no longer the coach.
The former Australian opening batsman took up a job with the national team following the resignation of Darren Lehmann.
His replacement, former captain Adam Voges, has been around the playing group and will understand exactly what it takes to win the Big Bash.
The winning culture should be a flow-on effect for Perth, with plenty of the same troops ready to go around again.
Revenge will be high on the mind as well after they were bundled out of the semi-finals by Hobart in front of a big home crowd last season.
While they were bundled out, they had won the minor premiership and they will be aiming to make that a blip on the radar, as well as setting about turning their new permanent home ground at Optus Stadium into a fortress this season.
This has been a familiar sight for Scorchers fans. (AAP Image/Richard Wainwright)
Ashton Agar, Cameron Bancroft, Jason Behrendorff, Hilton Cartwright, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Cameron Green, Josh Inglis, Matthew Kelly, Michael Klinger, Mitchell Marsh (c), Shaun Marsh, Joel Paris, Usman Qadir (Pakistan), Jhye Richardson, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye, Sam Whiteman, David Willey (England)
Captain: Mitchell Marsh (Ashton Turner when Marsh unavailable)
Coach: Adam Voges
Imports: Usman Qadir, David Willey
Batsmen
Michael Klinger is back for another go in the Big Bash, and the Scorchers will be grateful for it. He is a consistent performer opening the batting, ending with 184 runs last season.
He will be joined at the top of the order by Shaun Marsh when available, with Josh Inglis, who burst onto the scene last year, likely to be the fill-in when Marsh is with the Australian side.
Cameron Bancroft returns from suspension at the end of December and is likely to play a vital role for the Scorchers, while keeper-batsman Sam Whiteman will also slot in somewhere.
Ashton Turner had a great BBL|07 campaign, finishing with 252 runs and getting the Scorchers over the line more than once, so his spot is more than secure.
Ashton Turner of the Scorchers. (AAP Image/Richard Wainwright)
All-rounders
Mitchell Marsh is obviously the main all-rounder, with experience playing for Australia in all three formats.
Ashton Agar is the name who will be on everyone’s lips though. He is a clean hitter of the ball and bowls some tidy off spin which is hard to score against.
Bowlers
The bowling attack is again the area where Perth are tremendously strong. With Mitchell Johnson retired, there is a hole to fill, but Jhye Richardson and Jason Behrendorff are more than capable of making up for his absence.
The rest of the pace stocks aren’t any weaker, with Nathan Coulter-Nile, Andrew Tye and Joel Paris all in the squad.
That’s without even mentioning English import David Willey, who gives the Scorchers plenty of pace-bowling depth.
The undisputable element is that Usman Qadir, their Pakistani import, will play as the team’s main spin bowler alongside Agar.
International cricket impact
In short, there will be plenty of forced swapping and team changes going on in Perth throughout the course of this season’s campaign thanks to international selection.
The obvious candidates to be replaced are the Marsh brothers. Shaun and Mitchell are going to probably play all three formats for Australia and as a result will be unavailable for much of the season.
Cameron Bancroft is the other one who, just maybe, could gain a selection to the Sri Lankan Test series as he makes his return from suspension if the form of the side is poor against India.
Jason Behrendorff and Jhye Richardson are also unlikely to miss much time, although could be selected for the ODI team.
1. Shaun Marsh
2. Michael Klinger
3. Josh Inglis/Cameron Bancroft (wk)
4. Ashton Turner
5. Mitchell Marsh
6. Ashton Agar
7. David Willey
8. Nathan Coulter-Nile
9. Jhye Richardson
10. Jason Behrendorff
11. Andrew Tye
Perth’s bowling attack is stacked
This bowling attack is phenomenal. The Scorchers are probably going to run with Ashton Agar batting at six and David Willey at seven, purely because they have so many good bowlers to fit into the XI.
Andrew Tye and Nathan Coulter-Nile have played in the Australian set-up, while Jhye Richardson and Jason Behrendorff are on the cusp of doing so. (They could also drop one of those six bowlers and bring in an extra batting option like Hilton Cartwright into the side if they feel they need more runs.)
They have a mountain of talent, and if they can gel and get it right, it’s going to be nigh-on impossible to stop with so many options.
The three guys who could end up fighting for spots if Perth decide to go for more batsmen are Behrendorff, Richardson and Willey.
Behrendorff has pace, accuracy and sharp bounce so will be a fearsome option during the powerplay for a team who are going to have absolutely no problems replacing Mitchell Johnson is this season.
Jhye Richardson is likely to be his new ball partner and he would have learnt plenty from last year’s campaign.
When he gets it right, the youngster who went on Australia’s failed tour of South Africa earlier this year is very difficult to play in any format of the game.
But when he gets it wrong, he goes the journey and then some, as numbers from BBL|07 will indicate, with Richardson going at nine runs per over and ending up with a bowling average of 40.
Still, when you talk about combinations of quick bowlers in Australian cricket, it won’t get much more exciting than this outfit about to be wheeled out by Perth.
Jason Behrendorff (left). (Caelie Jones / Perth Scorchers)
The Scorchers will rely on Ashton Agar for spin
Usman Qadir is something of an unknown quantity coming into the new season. The Pakistani is still a relatively unknown prospect, and, with the Scorchers going to be hard-pressed to leave many of their pacemen out, Ashton Agar looms as the sole spin option.
Not that that’s a bad thing – he went for under six runs per over across the BBL last season.
Qadir also has an economy rate of under six in 20 T20 games, but barely holds a candle to Agar in the batting or experience departments.
The difference Qadir brings is that he is a wicket-taking leg-spinner. It might be tough to leave him out, but for team balance, Agar will play.
Are runs a problem at the top of the order once international cricket hits?
The Scorchers have a heap of depth in their squad, but one of the few problems they faced at times last year was a lack of runs from the top order.
On paper, it shouldn’t be an issue, but there was more than once when Ashton Turner had to come in and save the day down the order.
Of course, more often than not, they didn’t need a heap of runs because their bowling and fielding were leaps and bounds ahead of most teams in the competition.
While they played in a lot of lower-scoring games, when they were required to chase big, as was the case in the semi-final, they struggled.
Once you take the Marsh brothers out of the batting order, there tends to be a drop-off. Guys like Cameron Bancroft, who will be available from the end of December onwards, and Hilton Cartwright are renowned more as grafters than big hitters.
They will make the finals, but failing to lock up an explosive import or someone like Josh Philippe might come back to bite them.
The Scorchers run of home games will help them to the finals
The Scorchers finish the season with six of their final nine games at home, and at one point play four in a row at Optus Stadium.
While that sets up a difficult run through the first half of the season, few other teams have a run of home games as long as they do, and we have seen over the years, playing in Western Australia is extremely difficult for opposition teams.
Having the WACA as a fortress has been a key to the Scorchers’ success. If they can replicate that home-ground advantage at Optus Stadium this year, having four home games in a row at the back-end of the season will be a major bonus for the men in orange.
| Match no. | Date | Time (AEDT) | Opponent | Venue | TV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thu Dec 20 | 7:15 PM | Melbourne Renegades | Marvel Stadium | Seven/Fox |
| 2 | Sat Dec 22 | 3:30 PM | Sydney Sixers | SCG | Fox |
| 3 | Wed Dec 26 | 7:15 PM | Adelaide Strikers | Optus Stadium | Seven/Fox |
| 4 | Sun Dec 30 | 7:15 PM | Hobart Hurricanes | UTAS Stadium, Launceston | Seven/Fox |
| 5 | Wed Jan 2 | 7:15 PM | Sydney Thunder | Spotless Stadium | Seven/Fox |
| 6 | Sat Jan 5 | 9:30 PM | Brisbane Heat | Optus Stadium | Fox |
| 7 | Wed Jan 9 | 7:15 PM | Melbourne Stars | MCG | Seven/Fox |
| 8 | Sun Jan 13 | 9:35 PM | Sydney Sixers | Optus Stadium | Seven/Fox |
| 9 | Fri Jan 18 | 9:30 PM | Hobart Hurricanes | Optus Stadium | Fox |
| 10 | Thu Jan 24 | 9:40 PM | Sydney Thunder | Optus Stadium | Seven/Fox |
| 11 | Mon Jan 28 | 9:15 PM | Melbourne Renegades | Optus Stadium | Seven/Fox |
| 12 | Fri Feb 1 | 8:40 PM | Brisbane Heat | Gabba | Seven/Fox |
| 13 | Sun Feb 3 | 9:15 PM | Melbourne Stars | Optus Stadium | Seven/Fox |
| 14 | Sat Feb 9 | 2:45 PM | Adelaide Strikers | Traegar Park, Alice Springs | Seven/Fox |
The Scorchers have a winning culture, which is the first step towards success in any sport.
They also have immense talent and depth in their squad, with the calibre of players missing out on the best XI a testament to that.
The Scorchers have never missed the finals before and it’d be a shock to see that happen for the first time this year.
Third.
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