Sydney Thunder vs Brisbane Heat: Big Bash live scores, blog

A busy period of the BBL season begins tonight for the Brisbane Heat as they attempt to climb off the bottom of the table when they play the Sydney Thunder at Homebush.

Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 7:15pm (AEDT).

After playing just four games over the first 19 days of the competition, the Heat now face a run which is likely to decide whether they will be playing finals cricket or not.

With five games in the next 12 days and just two of them at home, they will be doing a lot of travel and the squad will get a proper workout.

It could work well for the Heat if they can make a good start and get some momentum rolling, with the squad clearly struggling to find a rhythm over their first four games, having just the single win on the board.

It leaves them at the wrong end of the ladder and only ahead of the hapless Perth Scorchers on net run rate, but with ten games still to play, their finals charge is well and truly alive if they can come away from the next fortnight with some big wins.

After tough losses to the Adelaide Strikers, Hobart Hurricanes and Sydney Sixers to start their season, the Heat finally picked up their first win over the Scorchers last time out, and it was clear the difference came with the bat.

Their first three games saw low totals and big guns Chris Lynn and Brendon McCullum unable to spark anything from the line-up. While they were only chasing 135 against the Scorchers, they got there comfortably in the end with contributions all through the order.

On the other side, the Thunder had started their season positively enough, winning their first two, but the deficiencies within the squad were laid bare when they lost to the Hurricanes and Strikers on New Year’s Eve.

The loss to the Strikers was particularly worrying, with their lack of death bowling a major talking point. However, with Fawad Ahmed and Jos Buttler in fine form, they hit back to beat the Scorchers, before losing to the Stars last time out to ensure their record was 50-50.

Home games in the BBL are crucial, so the Thunder must win here, but the Spotless Stadium pitch is a talking point in itself, with runs hard to come by – which, to be fair, benifits the Thunder, who for the most part would prefer to play low-scoring games.

Prediction
Even on the road, this is a crucial game for the Heat. I reckon Lynn has a big one and they get the job done.

Be sure to join The Roar for live coverage of the match from 7:15pm (AEDT) and don’t forget to add a comment in the section below.

Game information

First ball: 7:15pm (AEDT)
Venue: Spotless Stadium, Homebush
TV: Live, Fox Sports, Channel 7
Online: Live, Foxtel app, Foxtel now, Kayo Sports
Betting: Thunder $1.75, Heat $2.10
Overall record: Played 7, Heat 6, Thunder 1
Last meeting: Brisbane Heat defeat Sydney Thunder by 6 wickets with 1 ball remaining at the Gabba
Last five: Heat 4, Thunder 1
Umpires: Shawn Craig and Greg Davidson

Sydney Thunder (squad)
Shane Watson (c), Fawad Ahmed, Jos Buttler, Jono Cook, Callum Ferguson, Chris Green, Nathan McAndrew, Arjun Nair, Joe Root, Sam Rainbird, Daniel Sams, Gurinder Sandhu, Jason Sangha

Brisbane Heat (squad)
Chris Lynn (c), Max Bryant, Joe Burns, Ben Cutting, Brendan Doggett, Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Lalor, Brendon McCullum, James Pattinson, Jimmy Peirson (wk), Matt Renshaw, Mitch Swepson, Mujeeb Ur Rahman