Dec 11: Melbourne Stars vs Brisbane Heat, Canberra
Pro Tip: Apart from finishing one from bottom in BBL 09, Brisbane Heat had the poorest batting average – 21.54 – of the teams in the fray. Melbourne Stars, on the other hand, were the best batting team, averaging 27.75 per wicket.
Our XI: Andre Fletcher, Chris Lynn, Max Bryant, Tom Cooper, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Hilton Cartwright, Daniel Lawrence, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Ben Laughlin, Adam Zampa
Substitutes: Jimmy Peirson, Sam Heazlett, Dilbar Hussain, Billy Stanlake
Player availability: Marnus Labuschagne, Mark Steketee, Mitchell Swepson and Will Pucovski are not available due to their national commitments. Overseas players Lewis Gregory, Nicholas Pooran and Mujeeb Ur Rahman are also not available for a variety of reasons. We might not always be able to tip you off about late injury (or other relevant) updates, so please finalise your team after the toss
Captain: Glenn Maxwell
Stars captain Maxwell is our choice for captain too. He has come from a brilliant limited-overs series against India, where he scored three 50-plus scores in six games. He had a good BBL 2019-20 too, where he scored 398 runs in 16 innings at an average of 39.80 and a strike rate of 148.50. He picked up ten wickets in the last BBL as well.
Vice-captain: Chris Lynn
One of the BBL’s greats, Lynn was the top scorer for Heat last season, where he scored 387 runs in 14 innings at a strike rate of 148.84. He had a terrific PSL 2020 too, recording the highest individual score of the year (113*) on his way to 284 runs in eight games at an average of 40.57 and a strike rate of 179.74.
Hot Picks
Marcus Stoinis: Stoinis was the leading run-scorer in BBL 09 with 705 runs in 17 innings at an average of 54.23. He also recorded the highest individual score in BBL history when he smashed a 79-ball 147* against Sixers last season. He had a great IPL 2020 too. scoring 352 runs and picking up 13 wickets in 17 games. Stoinis makes a very good vice-captain choice too.
Ben Laughlin: The most successful bowler in BBL history, Laughlin has 110 wickets in 88 games at an average of 22.12. Stars are his favorite opposition in the BBL, as he has 21 wickets in 12 games at an average of 16.10 against them.
Adam Zampa: Zampa was the leading wicket-taker in the limited-overs leg of the India tour of Australia with ten wickets in six games. He was the best spinner in BBL 09 where he picked up 20 wickets in 12 games at an average of 16.20. He can exploit Heat’s weakness against spin like no other bowler.
Differential Picks
Daniel Lawrence: The 23-year-old English all-rounder is a newcomer to the BBL but has been exceptional in the NatWest T20 Blast, where he has 576 runs in 21 innings at a strike rate of 146.93 over the last two editions of T20 Blast. He can also get you some points with his bowling.
Andre Fletcher: A veteran of 200 games and 210 sixes in the T20 format, Fletcher is a phenomenal hitter at the top of the order. He gave a couple of good starts to West Indies in their recent tour to New Zealand, scoring a 14-ball 34 and 14-ball 20.
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