BBL 7, Match 31, Preview: Flying Hurricanes take on Head-less Strikers

The Hobart Hurricanes and the Adelaide Strikers were not considered as two of the most powerful teams at the start of BBL 7, but the way they have performed so far in the tournament, they have emerged as the strongest contenders for the title. Both the team have 5 victories in 7 games so far and are looking good to make it to the semi-finals.

The Strikers are hit by the fact that their captain Travis Head is not available to play for the team. The 23-year-old is representing Australia in the ODI series against England and they clearly missed him in the last game against the Scorchers. Head is one of those dynamic players in T20 cricket who can bat in different gears and he was holding the key position of no. 3 for the Strikers.

In his absence, Colin Ingram is batting at 3 now and there is a bit of inexperience in the middle order after him. With Head at 3 and Ingram at 4, it was a much stable and powerful line-up. Also, the fact that Head could bowl a bit of handy off-spin is another aspect which the Strikers are missing.

The Hurricanes, on the other hand, have all their key players available. They would, however, be a little concerned with the form of their skipper George Bailey who is looking in all sorts of discomfort with the bat at the moment. He promoted himself in the order in the last game against the Heat and batted one down, but still couldn’t do well and was dismissed scoring just 19 off 21 balls. He will be desperate to find some fluency in batting. He is not getting any younger either, so question marks are getting bigger and bigger with every failure that he is having.

Apart from Bailey, another player who has not been able to live up to the expectations for the Hurricanes is Tymal Mills. The left-arm bustling fast bowler has been very, very ordinary in the entire tournament. He has not bowled with the same kind of venom he had shown last year. He has lost down on pace and has not managed to nail his slower deliveries in good areas consistently either. The Hurricanes will want Mills to raise his game for this crucial encounter.

Predicted XI

Hobart Hurricanes: Alex Doolan, D’Arcy Short, George Bailey (C), Daniel Christian, Ben McDermott, Matthew Wade, Simon Milenko, Jofra Archer, Cameron Boyce, Clive Rose, Tymal Mills

Adelaide Strikers:  Alex Carey, Jake Weatherald, Colin Ingram (C), Jonathan Wells, Jake Lehmann, Jonathon Dean, Michael Neser, Rashid Khan, Peter Siddle, Ben Laughlin, Bily Stanlake