Fourth-placed Adelaide Strikers lock horns against bottom-placed Perth Scorchers for the second time in the Big Bash League.
Adelaide thrashed Perth by 71 runs in the first clash. Put in to bat, they scored 165 runs with Philip Salt's 51 and Rashid Khan's quickfire 29. Perth could muster only 94 as their middle-order failed miserably.
Adelaide put up a disciplined showing with the ball as all the bowlers took two wickets each.
Head to Head
Matches Played- 17, Adelaide-9, Scorchers- 8
Team News
Adelaide's main weakness is in the middle order with Matt Renshaw, Jonathan Wells, and Matthew Short not creating much impact. They can try out Harry Nielsen or Ryan Gibson instead.
Perth will rely on the English duo of Jason Roy and Liam Livingstone to fire. Andrew Tye was quite expensive in the last game. Joel Paris can be brought back.
Pitch and Conditions
Only 1 match has been played in Adelaide so far with the team batting first winning the game. The pitch always has something for the batsmen. No possibility of rain is expected. Any total above 170 would be considered a par score. Batsmen can score a lot of runs in the death overs if they keep enough wickets in hand.
Probable Playing XI
Adelaide Strikers (ADS): Philip Salt, Jake Weatherald, Matt Renshaw, Alex Carey (c & wk), Jonathan Wells/Harry Nielsen, Matthew Short, Rashid Khan, Daniel Worrall, Danny Briggs, Peter Siddle, Wes Agar
Perth Scorchers (PRS): Josh Inglis (wk), Jason Roy, Liam Livingstone, Colin Munro, Mitchell Marsh, Ashton Turner (c), Aaron Hardie/Cameron Bancroft, Jhye Richardson, Andrew Tye, Jason Behrendorff/Joel Paris, Fawad Ahmed
Key Battles
Philip Salt (ADS) vs Jhye Richardson (PRS)
Salt scored a great half-century in the last game. The explosive opener loves taking on the bowlers aggressively in the powerplay. He has proved his worth in the county circuit for Sussex with some consistent performances. He is unstoppable when he gets going in full flow.
Richardson scalped three wickets including that of Salt in the previous match. From being a raw pacer, the youngster has made drastic improvements to his game. He always keeps his cool in crunch situations and executes his plan to perfection. He works up a good pace by hitting the deck hard.
Peter Siddle (ADS) vs Jason Roy (PRS)
Roy hit 21 runs in the last match. The hard-hitting opener can clear boundaries with ease using his strong cross-bat swing. He has a brilliant T20I record for England. He is a fearless player who can hit shots anywhere in the park.
Siddle took two wickets for 23 runs in the previous game. He can extract a lot of bounce from the track with his splendid skillset. He troubles batsmen with his accuracy. He can bowl long spells tirelessly and has a great record in the BBL.
Prediction
A win for Adelaide could seem them go to the top spot of the points table. Perth is the only side in the league without a win having lost three matches. They will have to work hard to produce a victory and gain revenge for the earlier loss against Adelaide.
Cricwizz predicts Perth Scorchers to win the match
