GameDay Squad AUS Cricket Round 13 Preview: The Sydney Sixers take on the Melbourne Stars in the 14th match of BBL13 in Sydney at the Sydney Cricket Ground and the Perth Scorchers take on the Melbourne Renegades in the 15th match of BBL13 in Perth at OPTUS Stadium on Tuesday the 26th of December.
Here's everything you need to know ....
Predicted Teams
Game 1
Sydney Sixers: 1. Josh Philippe, 2. James Vince, 3. Daniel Hughes, 4. Moises Henriques, 5. Jordan Silk, 6. Jack Edwards, 7. Ben Dwarshuis, 8. Sean Abbott, 9. Jackson Bird, 10. Steve O'Keefe, 11. Todd Murphy
Melbourne Stars: 1. Tom Rogers, 2. Sam Harper, 3. Beau Webster, 4. Glenn Maxwell, 5. Marcus Stoinis, 6. Hilton Cartwright, 7. Nick Larkin, 8. Imad Wasim, 9. Usama Mir, 10. Joel Paris, 11. Haris Rauf Game 2
Perth Scorchers: 1. Steve Eskinazi, 2. Zak Crawley, 3. Aaron Hardie, 4. Josh Inglis, 5. Cooper Connolly, 6. Laurie Evans, 7. Ashton Agar, 8. Jhye Richardson, 9. Andrew Tye, 10. Lance Morris, 11. Jason Behrendorff
Melbourne Renegades: 1. Joe Clarke, 2. Quinton de Kock, 3. Shaun Marsh, 4. Jake Fraser-McGurk, 5. Nic Maddinson, 6. Jono Wells, 7. Will Sutherland, 8. Tom Rogers, 9. Kane Richardson, 10. Adam Zampa, 11. Mujeeb ur Rahman
Start Vs Sit !
Batters - Jake Fraser-McGurk vs James Vince
JFM was dismissed for a golden duck against the Hurricanes and hopefully he can go big in Perth. Vince has been out of form and is only averaging 14 points but I think he is due for a 50+ score soon. I really like his match up against out of form Stars bowlers but I'll only start him if the Sixers bat first. If they don't, I'll pivot to JFM and hope he can handle the Scorchers bowling attack.
Start: Jake Fraser-McGurk vs James Vince (toss dependent in Sixers match)
All-Rounder - Moises Henriques vs Sean Abbott
Henriques is having a great tournament so far. He's averaging 49 points, 30 through the bat and 16 with the ball. However, he has only bowled four overs across the three matches he's played and this is a concern for me. He picked up two wickets in two overs in his last match and I don't think this will be a regular occurrence. Abbott has only played one game so far and in this match against the Renegades he scored 30 points. It sounds like he will be back for the Stars match and I'm leaning towards starting him. If he doesn't play, Henriques will be my fourth all-rounder selected.
Start: Sean Abbott
Bowler - Jackson Bird vs Lance Morris
Both players had solid outings in their previous matches, Bird scored 56 points vs Strikers and Morris scored 39 points vs Hurricanes. I'm leaning towards starting Bird because I prefer the match up for the Sixers bowlers against the Stars batting lineup. Also, Bird's role changed in the Strikers match due to the suspension of Tom Curran. Bird continued to open the bowling but he was used in the power surge and in the death overs. Hopefully he continues to bowl during these key stages of the innings, where there is the opportunity to snare a couple of wickets with the batsmen taking more risks. Morris could also have a big day out in fantasy terms but I believe that there are too many mouths to feed in the Scorchers bowling lineup.
Start: Jackson Bird
Game 1
Matchup Matrix
Key Takeaways:
Opening batsmen have had a lot of success against the Stars
Most batsmen struggle to score well against the Sixers
Most of the Stars bowlers have struggled to score
Ground Matrix
Key Takeaways:
Opening batsmen in the first innings have success
Spinners perform well here
Both pace and spin bowlers in the first innings have success
Game 2
Matchup Matrix
Key Takeaways:
Openers and middle order batsmen struggle against the Scorchers
Middle order batsmen had success against the Renegades
Teams have struggled against the Scorchers pace attack
Ground Matrix
Key Takeaways:
Avoid middle order batsmen in the first innings
Lower order batsmen have success here
Avoid playing spin bowlers
Hot Take
Shaun Marsh will score a fifty in his first match of BBL13 in front of his home crowd.
Who to play in your GDS starting XI
BAT - Zak Crawley
BAT - Shaun Marsh
BAT - Jake Fraser-McGurk / James Vince
ALL - Beau Webster
ALL - Aaron Hardie
ALL - Will Sutherland
ALL - Sean Abbott
WK - Josh Philippe
BWL - Jason Behrendorff
BWL - Jhye Richardson
BWL - Jackson Bird