The Thunder are coming off a seven-day break as they host the Scorchers in 30th match of KFC BBL|13
All you need to know: Sydney Thunder v Perth Scorchers
Match facts
Who: Sydney Thunder v Perth Scorchers
What: Match 30, BBL|13
Where: Sydney Showground Stadium
When: Monday, January 8. Bat flip at 6.30pm AEDT, first ball at 7.15pm AEDT
How to watch: Channel Seven, Fox Cricket, Kayo Sports
Buy tickets: Tickets are on sale here
Live scores: Match Centre
Highlights, news and reactions after the match: cricket.com.au, the CA Live and Big Bash apps
Officials: Ben Treloar (field), Troy Penman (field), Paul Wilson (third), Sharad Patel (fourth), David Gilbert (match referee)
Match squads
Thunder: Cameron Bancroft, Ollie Davies, Liam Doddrell, Toby Gray, Matthew Gilkes, Chris Green (c), Alex Hales (England), Liam Hatcher, Tom Kohler-Cadmore (England), Sam Konstas, Nathan McAndrew, Alex Ross, William Salzmann, Daniel Sams, Gurinder Sandhu, Jason Sangha, Tanveer Sangha
Scorchers: Aaron Hardie (c), Ashton Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Cooper Connolly, Zak Crawley (England), Stephen Eskinazi (England), Laurie Evans (England), Nick Hobson, Josh Inglis (vc), Hamish McKenzie, Lance Morris, Jhye Richardson, Andrew Tye, Sam Whiteman
Form guide
Thunder: LDLWL (most recent first)
It's almost a fresh start for the Thunder who are coming into the match off a seven-day break. With just one win so far this season, Thunder opener Cameron Bancroft says it's a must win scenario from now on if they're to be any chance of qualifying for the BBL|13 finals. "History suggests you need to win half your games to be in the four and we understand that … hopefully we can string some wins together and be there come the end of the season," he said. The Thunder's last victory was against the Stars on December 23, and they'll need the Stars keep losing to be able to knock them out of fourth spot.
Scorchers: LWWWW
The Scorchers head to Sydney looking to bounce back from their first defeat in 11 matches. Opener Sam Whiteman admits the reigning champions "didn't adapt to the change of conditions" at Adelaide Oval during their nine-wicket loss to the Strikers after playing their previous three games at home. They'll need to rectify that quickly with another two games on the road against the Thunder and Heat before heading back to Perth to close out their regular season.
KFC BBL|13 standings
| Team | M | W | L | T | N/R | NRR | Ded. | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1
HEA
|
10 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0.972 | 0 | 16 |
|
2
SIX
|
10 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0.339 | 0 | 14 |
|
3
SCO
|
10 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0.725 | 0 | 13 |
|
4
STR
|
10 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0.331 | 0 | 11 |
|
5
HUR
|
10 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 0 | -0.268 | 0 | 8 |
|
6
STA
|
10 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 0 | -1.051 | 0 | 8 |
|
7
REN
|
10 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 2 | -0.288 | 0 | 6 |
|
8
THU
|
10 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 2 | -0.652 | 0 | 4 |
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
T: Ties
N/R: No results
NRR: Net Run Rate
Ded.: Deductions
PTS: Total points
Players to watch
Cameron Bancroft has picked up where he left off following his move to Sydney and is the Thunder's top run-scorer so far in his first season with the club with 202 at 33.66 from his six innings. Has also shown his versatility to take the glove in their past three matches. The 31-year-old will be eager to impress on Monday in his first match against his old side after being squeezed out of the Scorchers' salary cap following a career-best season in a championship-winning campaign last summer.
After not batting in his first three games of the season, Laurie Evans has been on a tear in the three matches since, highlighted by registering the club's quickest half-century on record with an 18-ball effort against the Strikers in Perth last Wednesday. Evans has 138 runs striking at 215.62 in his three innings this season and was also looking good with two fours and a six in his 28 against the Strikers in their return clash at Adelaide Oval before picking out short third with a reverse sweep.
The match will also be Scorchers opener Sam Whiteman's first game against his former team following two years with the Thunder in BBL|11 and BBL|12. Whiteman has come into the Scorchers XI in their past two matches to provide some stability at the top and hit 31 off 21 balls in his first knock of the season before getting a first-ball duck in their loss to the Strikers in Adelaide on Friday.
Head-to-head
Overall: Thunder (9 wins), Scorchers (8 wins)
At Sydney Showground: Thunder (3 wins), Scorchers (2 wins)
Most runs: Cameron Bancroft (330), Mitchell Marsh (259), Callum Ferguson (254), Usman Khawaja (229), Ashton Turner (228)
Most wickets: Andrew Tye (15), Jason Behrendorff (14), Brad Hogg (10), Nathan McAndrew (10), Jhye Richardson (9)
The venue
Rapid stats
- Sydney Thunder are the only team with a winning record against the Perth Scorchers in the history of the competition with nine wins and eight losses. Adelaide Strikers (11 wins) and Sydney Sixers (10 wins) have both beaten the Scorchers on more occasions but have also lost 13 and 16 times respectively.
- Alex Ross (1898) is 102 away from reaching 2000 BBL runs. However, Ross' average against the Scorchers (18.88) is the second worst of his Big Bash opponents, just ahead of his average against the Sixers (12.92).
- Laurie Evans (Perth Scorchers) has hit a boundary every three balls faced this Big Bash season – the most frequent of any batter to have faced more than 10 balls in BBL|13. Evans has scored 75.4 per cent of his 138 runs this season in boundaries, hitting 11 fours and 10 sixes from his 64 balls faced.
What's on the line?
The Scorchers have a game in hand on the second-placed Sixers and can jump back above their perennial rivals into second with a win over the Thunder. After four wins in a row to start the season, Sam Whiteman said all "eyes were on those top two positions" which earn a double chance in the BBL|13 finals, with their last three games of the regular season against the first-placed Heat (two games) and Sixers. For the seventh-placed Thunder, they need to start winning and keep winning to be any chance of playing finals this season.
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