Night two of BBL11 takes us to Canberra, as the Sydney Thunder host the Brisbane Heat. The Heat knocked out the Thunder in last season’s finals, so there will be plenty of feeling in this clash! We’ve got you covered with a preview and tips for Monday night’s Big Bash action.
BBL11 Thunder vs Heat Betting Tips
Monday 6th December, 7.15pm (AEDT)
Sydney Thunder
Likely XI: Alex Hales, Matt Gilkes, Sam Whiteman, Sam Billings, Alex Ross, Daniel Sams, Ben Cutting, Nathan McAndrew, Chris Green, Gurinder Sandhu, Tanveer Sangha
The Thunder have brought a well rounded squad to BBL11, looking to build on a 4th placed finish last season. The loss of Usman Khawaja to international duties will hurt, however with the overseas batting talent the Thunder have in Alex Hales and Sam Billings, they should be able to cover. Tanveer Sangha and Chris Green formed an outstanding spin duo last season, and they will be crucial to the Thunder's hopes this season.
Englishman Saqib Mahmood will be out for this game, but when he joins the squad later in the season, he will provide some geniune pace that the Thunder have lacked in recent years. Ben Cutting and Daniel Sams are two of the premier all-rounders in the Big Bash and provide the Thunder plenty of flexibility with both bat and ball, making them a seriously dangerous side.
Brisbane Heat
Likely XI: Max Bryant, Ben Duckett, Chris Lynn, Sam Heazlett, Tom Cooper, Jimmy Pierson, Jack Wildermuth, Cameron Gannon, Xavier Bartlett, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Matt Kuhnemann
The Heat stormed home after a slow start last season, finishing in third place, just one game away from the BBL Final. The Heat once again have one of the most dangerous batting units in the competition with the likes of Chris Lynn, Max Bryant, Jimmy Pierson, Ben Duckett and Tom Abell. However the inexperienced bowling attack does create a lot of concerns for the Heat, with the loss of experienced campaigners Ben Laughlin and Morne Morkel leaving the bowling attack quite thin.
There will be an abundance of pressure of Mujeeb Ur Rahman, with the Afghan spinner set to carry a young bowling attack that will be under plenty of pressure this season. If the Heat are going to get far this season, their batting line up is going to have carry the load.
Match Prediction
Both of these sides were outstanding with that bat in BBL10, but their bowling was a limitation. The additions of Mahmood and the in form Gurinder Sandhu will provide the Thunder with much needed improvement to their pace stocks, alongside young leggie Tanvir Sangha who was the fifth leading wicket taker last season, the Thunder have their most well rounded bowling attack in quite some time.
The questions around the Heat remain the same as it always has, can they find a middle ground to their batting? With the likes of Chris Lynn, Max Bryant, Ben Duckett and Tom Abell, there is plenty of power, but they lack players who can bat to the tempo of a match.
The Heat had a 1-2 record at Manuka Oval in the regular season in BBL10, with their only victory coming against the last placed Renegades. The Thunder went 5-3 in BBL10 at Canberra, and will be confident their style of cricket will be much more suited to the venue.
The depth in bowling is where the Thunder will win this game. A likely Heat attack of Jack Wildermuth, Xavier Bartlett, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Matt Kuhnemann just isn’t good enough to contain a batting order featuring the firepower of Hales, Billings, Oli Davies, Ben Cutting and Daniel Sams.
Same Game Multi
Plenty of excellent choices in this matchup, with the star power on display. Alex Hales was dominant opening the batting for the Thunder last season, finishing as top run scorer BBL10 with 543 runs at an average of 38. Hales passed 30 in eight of fourteen regular season games.
Despite missing games through injury, Chris Lynn was still at his brutal best in BBL10, scoring 458 runs at an average of 35, to be the fourth highest scorer. Lynn has scored the most runs ever in games played between the Thunder and the Heat (576) and passed the 20 run mark in ten of his 12 regular season games in BBL10.
To round out the multi, we’ve got the Thunder to score over 145 runs.The Thunder were one of the most prolific batting outfits in the comp last season, with three of the top 20 run scorers in the league. The Thunder scored above 200 on three different occasions, and didn’t score less than 147 in all thirteen matches that they faced 20 overs in.
Hales 30+ Runs
Lynn 20+ Runs
Thunder 145+ Runs
THU vs HEA Same Game Multi
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