Adelaide Strikers vs Brisbane Heat Match 18 Big Bash League Predictions, Odds, Picks

• Both Adelaide Strikers and Brisbane Heat have won one of their four matches.
• The Strikers have six points to their name, while Heat have four points in their account.
• Having lost their respective last matches, both teams will be eager to get back to winning ways.

Adelaide Strikers vs Brisbane Heat Odds

Odds taken from BetMGM

Adelaide Strikers vs Brisbane Heat Prediction and Pick

Adelaide Strikers are slightly ahead of Brisbane Heat in terms of head-to-head records. They have beaten Brisbane eight times, while the 2012/13 winners have got the better of the Strikers on six occasions. This statistic, coupled with the fact that the Strikers have been marginally better than Heat so far this season, makes them favorites for this match.

Adelaide Strikers: Jake Weatherald/Henry Hunt , Matthew Short, Matt Renshaw, Jonathan Wells, Thomas Kelly, Harry Nielsen (wk), George Garton, Rashid Khan, Wes Agar/Daniel Worrall, Peter Siddle (c), Fawad Ahmed

Brisbane Heat: Max Bryant/Tom Abell, Chris Lynn, Ben Duckett, Sam Heazlett, Jimmy Peirson (c & wk), Tom Cooper, James Bazley, Xavier Bartlett, Mark Steketee, Mitchell Swepson, Mujeeb Ur Rahman

Two Teams on the Same Page Will Square Off in an Enormously Important Clash

It is still early doors in the 2021/22 edition of the Big Bash League, but two teams in Sydney Sixers and Perth Scorchers have already created a cushion between themselves and the chasing pack, while the likes of Sydney Thunder and Melbourne Stars are not much further back either.

In such a scenario, Adelaide Strikers and Brisbane Heat, the two teams who will square off in this match at the Adelaide Oval, will need to up the ante if they want to remain in the hunt for the playoff places.

Having lost their first two matches, Brisbane Heat did well to get the better of Melbourne Renegades in their third fixture, but their good work was undone by a humbling 53-run defeat against Sydney Thunder in their previous encounter. Adelaide Strikers, on the other hand, won one of their first two fixtures against the Renegades, but are coming into this match on the back of consecutive defeats against Perth Scorchers and Sydney Sixers.

Team News

Joe Weatherald is usually one of the first names on the Adelaide Strikers’ team sheet, but he has not been able to get going this season. The opening batter has scored only 52 runs in his four innings and could only muster up six runs in his last match.

It is perhaps time for the Strikers think tank to look beyond their usually reliable campaigner and give the 24-year-old Henry Hunt an opportunity to have his moment in the sun. As for their bowling department, Daniel Worrall has not done much wrong, but he had a poor day at the office against the Sixers. Strikers could replace him with one of the showstoppers of the last season – Wes Agar.

Similarly, Brisbane Heat can also demote their talented batter, Max Bryant to the bench. The 22-year-old has scored only 27 runs in four matches and could make way for the English batting all-rounder, Tom Abell.

Key Players

Matthew Short: Batting has been the Achilles’ heel for Adelaide Strikers, with Matthew Short proving to be an important exception. He has scored 140 runs in four matches and is the only batter from his team to have crossed the 100-run mark. The 26-year-old played a stunning knock of 63 runs against Perth Scorchers in his third match of the season.

Sam Heazlett: With one of their batting kingpins in Marnus Labuschagne busy taking the attack to the English bowlers in the ongoing Ashes, and another in Chris Lynn being out of form, Brisbane Heat have been reliant on Sam Heazlett to accumulate lion’s share of the runs. He is currently Brisbane’s highest run-scorer, having scored 125 runs in four matches, with a highest of 44 not out that came against Melbourne Renegades.

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