We’re heading north for game two of the Friday BBL12 double header, with the Heat hosting the Hurricanes at the Gabba. With just one point separating these two sides and finals spots up for grabs, this is a massive game!
Jack Tobin has you covered with his tips for the Friday night blockbuster at the Gabba, and head over to our BBL Tips page, where the BeforeYouBet team has previews for every game of the season. If you're going to have a Dabble, why not bet with Dabble?
BBL12 Heat vs Hurricanes Preview & Betting Tips
Gabba, Friday 20th January, 8:00pm (AEDT)
Brisbane Heat
Predicted XI: Usman Khawaja, Josh Brown, Marnus Labuschagne, Matthew Renshaw, Sam Hain, Jimmy Peirson, James Bazley, Michael Neser, Spencer Johnson, Mitch Swepson, Matt Kuhnemann
The Heat will be riding high after an unbeaten 90 from Matthew Renshaw guided the Heat to a thrilling final ball victory over the Stars, to keep the Heat’s season alive. At the time of writing, the Heat are just one point behind fourth placed Adelaide Strikers, and are well and truly in the hunt for a finals position.
Usman Khawaja is yet to get going since his inclusion into the Heat side, with scores of 28, 2 and 14. Fellow Test squad members Marnus Labuschagne and Matthew Renshaw have delivered top scores for the Heat in their last two games, is this the game we see Ussie deliver?
The big question over the Heat coming into this game will be how their bowling attack can perform against a quality batting side. Before their wins against the Stars and the Strikers, the Heat had conceded 2/157 (16.2 overs), 3/173 (16.3 overs), 209, 6/182 and 0/124 (12 overs). If the Heat bowlers don’t get it right on Friday night, they’re going to get lit up by a powerful Canes batting unit.
Hobart Hurricanes
Predicted XI: Ben McDermott, Caleb Jewell, Zak Crawley, Matthew Wade, Tim David, D'Arcy Short, Faheem Ashraf, Tom Andrews, Nathan Ellis, Wil Parker, Riley Meredith
Paddy Dooley picked up a groin injury in Wednesday night's defeat against the Scorchers and will likely miss against the Heat. The Hurricanes were beaten comprehensively by the Scorchers after being restricted to 9/146 with the bat. Despite taking two early wickets, the Canes were never in the game, going down by seven wickets.
The Hurricanes top order failed to get going with Caleb Jewell (8), Ben McDermott (7) and Matthew Wade (0) all dismissed cheaply to leave the Hurricanes at 3/33 in the sixth over. The Canes lost wickets consistently throughout their inning with tail enders Tom Andrews (24) and Nathan Ellis (21) getting them to a semi-respectable score.
Tim David has hit form at the right time of the season, currently ranking eighth for runs in BBL12, with 282 runs at an average of 40 with a strike rate of 162. David is going to be a nightmare for the Heat bowling attack to contain on a Gabba surface that has been outstanding for batting in BBL12.
Match Prediction
The Hurricanes have had an up and down season in BBL12, while the Heat are beginning to find form at the right time of the season after a slow start. The form lines that these two teams are in would suggest to lean towards the Heat, however it’s important not to get carried away with the Heat’s two wins over an out of form Strikers side, and the last placed Stars.
The Hurricanes play the Gabba well, winning two of their last three games against the Heat in Brisbane. Both sides have plenty of quality in their batting stocks, however the Hurricanes have the edge in the bowling department led by Nathan Ellis and Riley Meredith. This will be a high scoring encounter, but the Hurricanes experience with the ball will just get them across the line.
Hobart Hurricanes
$1.75 (1.5 Units)
Same Game Multi
As we highlighted earlier Usman Khawaja is set to tear a game to shreds after a quiet start to his BBL12 campaign. Khawaja’s best score out of those three games was his only fixture at the Gabba, so a return to a track he’s dominated at in domestic level should produce great results for Khawaja.
For the second leg of the multi, we’re backing Zak Crawley to score 10+ runs. Crawley has played in the typical Bazball manner, taking the game on from ball one regardless of the game situation. Crawley has reached the 10 run mark in all five of his games for the Hurricanes, and is averaging 32.
To finish off the multi we’ve got Riley Meredith to take 2+ wickets. Meredith is in excellent form taking two wickets in each of his last three games, and has taken 17 wickets in BBL12 - ranking fourth in the competition.
Usman Khawaja 15+ Runs
Zak Crawley 10+ Runs
Riley Meredith 2+ Wickets
