The Brisbane Heat will take on the Melbourne Stars in the 2nd game of the Monday ngiht double header in BBL11 and as always, Mr. Cricket is back with a full preview and betting tips for the clash below!
Remember to check out our Cricket Tips page for regular updates throughout the BBL11 season as well as the Ashes.
BBL11 Heat vs Stars Betting Tips
Gabba, Monday 27th December, 9.05pm (AEDT)
Brisbane Heat
Predicted XI: Chris Lynn, Max Bryant, Tom Cooper, Ben Duckett, Sam Heazlett, Jimmy Peirson, James Bazley, Mark Steketee, Matthew Kuhnemann, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Liam Guthrie
The Heat bounced back from a loss to the Thunder on Sunday night with a convincing win over the Strikers on Thursday. They are now 2-3 on the season and sit in 5th place on the BBL table. They will likely be without spinner Mitch Swepson again on Monday night as the spinner was named in the Boxing Day Test squad but didn’t make the final XI.
The batting line-up seems to be coming together nicely for the Heat. Superstar Chris Lynn is yet to fire, but they have middle order players in the likes of Ben Duckett, Sam Heazlett and Jimmy Peirson in form, which allows Lynn and opening partner Max Bryant to go hard early in the innings.
Melbourne Stars
Predicted XI: Marcus Stoinis, Joe Clarke, Glenn Maxwell, Nick Larkin, Hilton Cartwright, Andre Russel, Beau Webster, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Adam Zampa, Qais Ahmad, Brody Couch
The Stars have a couple of big inclusions in their 16-man squad to face the Heat. Adam Zampa returns from injury and in form batsman Nick Larkin will also take his place back in the side after a strong start to the season. Zampa is premier Australian white ball bowler and gives the Stars a completely new look bowling attack when he is in the side while Larkin has been the middle-order stability that they have craved with the bat for the last few seasons now.
They went down to the Hobart Hurricanes in their last match but have a 2-3 record so far this season. If they can earn a win here and pinch one of the following back to back games against the Scorchers, they will be 4-4 heading into four straight games against the Renegades and Strikers, the two worst teams in the league.
Match Prediction
I like the Stars here. The bookies opened with them slightly shorter than I expected at just $1.75, but even at that price it’s hard to bet against them. With Larkin and Zampa coming back into the side they look a complete outfit with four genuine match-winners in Stoinis, Maxwell, Russel and Zampa. If any one of those guys has a standout game, the Stars probably win, and some of their role players in the likes of Clarke, Cartwright and Larkin are in good touch at the moment.
Melbourne Stars H2H
$1.75
Same Game Multi
Joe Clarke finally found some form in the Stars last game, bashing 52 off just 40 balls to get the Stars off to a decent start in their run chase against the Canes. It was just the 2nd time he has passed the 10 run mark in five games, but he finally started to look comfortable in the BBL, and showed that he belongs at this level.
Outside of their dismal performance in game one against the Sixers when half of their team was out, the Stars have cruised past the 145 in all of their four other games, averaging 163.25 runs per game.
As always, the final leg of our multi is for the first dismissal of the game to be caught. It’s just a numbers game with this leg. At the time of writing, the leg has saluted in 17/21 games this season, which is just a touch over 80%. Implied odds for an 80% occurrence are $1.25, but for this leg you can get $1.36.
Clarke 10+ Runs
Stars 145+ Runs
1st Dismissal Caught
HEA vs STA Same Game Multi
$$2.60
