Perth Scorchers
Likely XI: Kurtis Patterson, Nick Hobson, Laurie Evans, Ashton Turner, Aaron Hardie, Chris Sabburg, Ashton Agar, Andrew Tye, Matthew Kelly, Jason Behrendorff, Peter Hatzoglou
Given Covid protocols, the Scorchers will likely retain the same starting eleven that featured in their last game against the Melbourne Stars. The Scorchers were already missing Josh Inglis and Mitch Marsh to national duties, and lost Colin Munro and Cameron Bancroft due to Covid protocols on the eve of their clash against the Stars, but as they have all season - the Scorchers found a way through adversity.
Nick Hobson stepped into the opening position and scored 46, while Laurie Evans (69 off 46) and Ashton Turner (47* off 26) took the Scorchers to 3/196 as they defeated the Stars by 47 runs.
Highlighting the depth in the Scorchers side, they’ve got five of the top seventeen run scorers in BBL11 and five of the top fifteen wicket takers this season. They’ve had to deal with being on the road all season, national duties and Covid - yet they keep finding a way to win.
Match Prediction
It’s set to be one way traffic in this fixture, although the Strikers are coming off consecutive wins, the Heat and Hurricanes are nowhere near the level of the Scorchers. The Scorchers defeated the Strikers by 49 runs back in December, and have won their last two meetings against Adelaide.
The depth the Scorchers possess with bat and ball is levels above the top heavy Strikers. Matt Short and Jono Wells rank inside the top nine run scorers in the competition, but there isn’t another Striker with over 200 runs this season. Peter Siddle and Rashid Khan rank inside the top four wicket takers, but the next best Striker is Wes Agar who ranks 29th with just eight wickets, ten wickets less than Siddle has taken.
The Strikers have averaged just 151 runs this season, while the Scorchers have scored above 152 in eight of their nine completed innings in BBL11. With Rashid Khan gone, it’s difficult to see the Strikers finding a way to contain the Scorchers batting unit which has taken opposing attacks apart all season long. The Scorchers sit two games clear at the top of the table, and the Strikers won’t cause them any troubles.
Same Game Multi
To kick off our same game multi, we’ve got Strikers opener Matt Short to score 10+ runs. Short is the highest scorer in the powerplay in BBL11, and has scored 292 runs at an average of 29 to be the ninth highest scorer in the competition. Our BBL Data Tools show us that Short has passed the 10 run mark in nine of his eleven innings this season.
For our second leg, we’re taking Laurie Evans to score 20+ runs. The Englishman has scored 246 runs at an average of 30 in his first BBL season, and has passed the 20 run mark in 50% of his matches this season.
To round out the multi we’re sticking with the first wicket to be caught, which has occurred in over 80% of games in BBL11.
Short 10+ Runs
Evans 20+ Runs
1st Wicket - Caught
STR vs SCO Same Game Multi
$3.40
