The Adelaide Strikers will have a point to prove this season after recording a 7-1 record in the regular season of BBL 05, only to go down to the Usman Khawaja-inspired Sydney Thunder by 8 wickets in last year’s semi-final at the Adelaide Oval.
The Wolf has the Strikers as his smokeys of BBL 06 and believes they represent great value at $7.50 to win the competition and $4 to make the grand final.
The Strikers hold a 3-2 record over the Brisbane Heat and will need to be out of the blocks quickly, starting with a win over the Heat here as they’ll be missing arguably their best player in Travis Head for a large part of the competition when he represents Australia in the ODI series against Pakistan in January.
Head was the 5th highest run scorer during BBL 05 and has recorded scores of 50 and 57* in his last two innings against the Heat.
The addition of Ben Dunk from the Hobart Hurricanes and the experience of Brad Hodge (6th all-time run scorer in BBL history) will ensure that the Strikers have plenty of strike power with the bat at the top of the order.
The one worry for the Strikers is their lack of spin options with Adil Rashid away with the England side, while Jon Holland could miss the clash through injury.
The Heat’s new addition, Alex Ross won’t have to wait long to take on his former side and will add plenty of depth to an already strong batting line-up containing last season’s top run scorer Chris Lynn and the returning Brendon McCullum.
The Achilles’ heel for the Heat is always the strength of their bowling attack when they are so heavily weighted in favour of their batting.
West Indian spiiner Samuel Badree led the Heat wicket-takers last season with 9 wickets and will need to have another strong season if the Heat bowlers are going to back up their batsmen.
The loss of the retired James Hopes is also a massive blow as he contributed 24 wickets in his Heat career, ranking him as the 3rd all-time wicket-taker.
The Strikers have won the last two clashes against the Heat and posted their 7th highest all-time score of 2/179 in the 8-wicket win in January.
As already mentioned, The Wolf is expecting big things from the Strikers this season and should start their campaign with a third consecutive win over the Heat.
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