The Gabba hosts a huge clash between the 4-4 Brisbane Heat as they take on the 4-3 Adelaide Strikers in Tuesday afternoon’s BBL action. As usual, we have a full betting preview of the game below.
Brisbane Heat Squad (13): Chris Lynn ©, Max Bryant, Joe Burns, Ben Cutting, Josh Lalor, Ben Laughlin, James Pattinson, James Peirson, Jack Prestwidge, Matthew Renshaw, Mitch Swepson, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, AB de Villiers
Adelaide Strikers Squad (13): Travis Head ©, Wes Agar, Harry Conway, Rashid Khan, Michael Neser, Harry Nielsen, Liam O’Connor, Phil Salt, Matt Short, Peter Siddle, Billy Stanlake, Jake Weatherald, Jon Wells
Heat vs Strikers Betting Tips
Brisbane Heat
After a disappointing loss to the Scorchers in Perth, the Heat have dropped to 6th on the table and desperately need to win these type of games at home. We’ve all been waiting for this team announcement as the Heat finally welcome AB de Villiers into the squad! So it’s a huge boost for a side that really struggles with losing quick wickets, especially when chasing totals. His batting experience in the middle order will be vital and it also means that Joe Burns can open the batting in-place of Tom Banton. Another team change will see Mujeeb Ur Rahman take the place of Zahir Khan. So it’ll be interesting to see if they continue to leave Swepson out of the starting 11. The experienced bowling duo of James Pattinson and Laughlin will be hopeful of a better performance at the Gabba as Mitch Marsh dominated them in Perth.
It’s been a slow start to the season for Maxy Bryant but he’s found some good form lately that should translate into more runs on Tuesday. He’s coming off a 28 at the Gabba recently and a 65 in Hobart when the Heat totalled 212. Now without Banton opening the batting, Bryant should take on more of a hitting role, especially if Joe Burns opens with him. As an added bonus, he bats in the powerplay and should be able to strike a few boundaries while the field is up.
Bryant Over 22.5 Runs
$1.91
Adelaide Strikers
It was a massive win for the Strikers at the Adelaide Oval on Sunday as they beat the Renegades by 63 runs and moved to 4th on the table. Travis Head returned from International duty and played a solid knock of 22. After the openers got off to a fast start, Wells and Short steadied the ship in the middle order to guide the Strikers to 173. Melbourne were never in the hunt as Siddle took 3 fa, Rashid did more damage with the ball and even Head picked up 2 wickets. So their bowling lineup can really trouble the Heat in the middle overs when they try and accelerate the run rate.
With Alex Carey playing for the Aussies in India, Wells is a major beneficiary as he moves up to the number 4 batting position. He comes off a brilliant 58 off 38 against the Renegades on Sunday. The Strikers lost a few quick wickets when Wells came to crease but he just continues to be a hard wicket for the opposition. So far, he’s scored 20 or more runs in 6 of 8 innings in BBL09 and will continue to be the rock of the Strikers middle order on Tuesday afternoon.
Prediction
In BBL08, the Heat and Strikers played in two nail-biting contests so this figures to be another close encounter. Especially with both sides playing for a finals spot. The AB de Villiers factor is obviously hard to ignore and he’s coming off a nice campaign in South Africa’s T20 competition. So their batting lineup does look very strong now. But also, the return of Rahman does strengthen up their bowling department which was disappointing over in Perth. They’re now back at the Gabba and that should be enough to get them over the line.
