BBL 2018-19, Match 24, Sydney Thunder vs Brisbane Heat, Match Prediction: Who will win the Match?

Heat are at the seventh position in the points table with only one win in four matches.

Published - 07 Jan 2019, 14:56 IST | Updated - 07 Jan 2019, 14:56 IST

View : 3.1K

3 Min Read

The 24th match of the ongoing Big Bash League (BBL) will see Sydney Thunder hosting the Brisbane Heat at the Showground Stadium. The Heat are languishing at the seventh position in the points table but they have played less matches compared to the other teams while the Thunder are the fifth place with 3 wins and the same number of losses.

The Thunder have named an unchanged squad for this game after losing to the Stars comfortably and they will be looking to make amends. The team has revolved around the same group of players since the first game which has helped them and getting back to the winning ways shouldn’t be a problem for the Shane Watson-led side. Their bowling is an issue so far even though the spinners have done exceptionally well so far.

The Heat finally got on the board with an easy win over the Perth Scorchers and will be keen on continuing with the same momentum. Australia‘s new number three in Tests, Marnus Labuschagne has been added into the squad for the first time in place of Alex Ross. He is likely to get a game with the pitch helping the slower bowlers.

Pitch and Conditions

The pitch at the venue has witnessed only a single score in excess of 150 so far in six innings this season. Two out of the three matches played have been low-scoring with the previous game at the stadium turning out to be a thriller. The teams will definitely bat first after winning the toss.

There is a lot of rain in Sydney at the moment and there is no different forecast for this encounter as well. There is a possibility of a thunderstorm during the match and 51 percent chance of rain is predicted after 7 PM.

Team Combinations

Sydney Thunder

The Thunder are likely to go in with an unchanged playing XI for this game. Their three spinners Jono Cook, Fawad Ahmed and Chris Green will be key for this game as the pitch is extremely slow and favours them. Daniel Sams, Gurinder Sandhu and Sam Rainbird have also been good so far with their pace bowling. Jos Buttler is in prime form and the batting revolves around him. If he fails, the others need to step up to post or chase a decent total.

Probable XI: Shane Watson (c), Jos Buttler (wk), Callum Ferguson, Joe Root, Jason Sangha, Daniel Sams, Chris Green, Sam Rainbird, Gurinder Sandhu, Fawad Ahmed, Jonathan Cook.

Brisbane Heat

The Heat might have to make a tough call of dropping Brendon McCullum who hasn’t performed to the expectations to bring in Labuschagne. The latter’s leg-spin bowling will also be crucial on a turning pitch while he can bat at the top order as well. The rest of the line-up should remain the same with the bowlers looking in great touch. Having said that Mitchell Swepson can also get a game in place of one of the pacers.

Probable XI: Max Bryant, Brendon McCullum/Marnus Labuschagne, Chris Lynn, Matt Renshaw, Joe Burns, Ben Cuting, Jimmy Peirson (wk), James Pattinson, Brendan Doggett, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Josh Lalor.