Brisbane Heat will be looking to make it three wins out of three as they take on Hobart Hurricanes in their first home game of this Big Bash League season at The Gabba later on Friday. The home side currently tops the table while the visitors sit in fifth position with one win and one loss from two games.
Also read: The complete Big Bash League schedule
The Brisbane Heat have been in dazzling form so far this season under the captaincy of Brendon McCullum. The former New Zealand skipper is using his experience to help the Heat succeed, with his smart bowling changes and intelligent field placement. Under his captaincy, the Heat have also shown a lot of aggression, which has been a key reason for their difficult-to-beat performance this season.
Their batting form has been superb so far, after they put up a huge total of 206 in their first match and managed to chance down a total of 157 set by the Sydney Thunder in their second match. Brendon McCullum, Jimmy Pearson, and middle-order batsmen Alex Ross and Chris Lynn have been the top batsmen for them in the first two matches. Brisbane Heat will be hoping for more of the same from these batsmen as they look to win their first home game of the season.
Brisbane Heat will have to improve their bowling though, considering how strong the Hobart Hurricanes batting lineup is. They have been over reliant on Mark Steketee and Samuel Badree so far in the tournament, and the likes of Floros and Wildermuth will have to step up this match.
Hobart Hurricanes will really have to improve their batting going into this because in the first two matches Tim Paine has been the only consistent performer, scoring 63 from 45 balls in the first match followed by a whopping 91 from 61 balls in the second match. Newcomer D'Arcy Short who scored 61 in their victory against the Sixers will have to put in another good performance after scoring just 1 run in their second match. George Bailey is another batsman that the Hurricanes will turn to for runs after the Australian knocked 74 runs from 46 in their match against the Melbourne Stars.
The Hurricanes will turn to lead pacer Shaun Tait and Stuart Broad for wickets and despite the duo picking up five wickets between them so far they have been really expensive and that has been a major for their poor showing with the ball. The duo will have to be tighter with the ball and along with them the likes of Rose, Kingston and Boyce will have to start picking up more wickets.
Despite the Hobart Hurricanes having the upper hand against the Brisbane Heat winning five of their last eight matches out of which three wins came at The Gabba, the Heat will still believe they have a better chance of winning this match given their current form.
Squads:
Brisbane Heat: Brendon McCullum(c), Samuel Badree, Joe Burns, Ben Cutting, Alex Doolan, Andrew Fekete, Luke Feldman, Jason Floros, Sam Heazlett, Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Lalor, Chris Lynn, Jimmy Peirson, Nathan Reardon, Alex Ross, Mark Steketee, Mitchell Swepson, Jack Wildermuth
Hobart Hurricanes: George Bailey(c), James Bazley, Cameron Boyce, Stuart Broad, Daniel Christian, Hamish Kingston, Ben McDermott, Dominic Michael, Simon Milenko, Tim Paine, Sam Rainbird, Jake Reed, Clive Rose, Kumar Sangakkara, D'Arcy Short, Shaun Tait, Beau Webster, Jonathan Wells
The Big Bash League 2016-17 match between Brisbane Heat and Hobart Hurricanes is set to start at 18:10 local (07:10 GMT | 12:40 IST)
Where to watch
India: Star Sports 2/HD2. Live Streaming: Hotstar.com
Australia: TV: Network Ten. Live Streaming: Bigbash.com.au
United Kingdom: Sky Sports 2/HD2. Live Streaming: Watch Sky Sports
USA and Canada:Willow TV
South Africa: Supersport
