All you need to know: Brisbane Heat v Adelaide Strikers

Match facts

Who: Brisbane Heat v Adelaide Strikers

What: The Challenger, BBL|13 

Where: Carrara Stadium, Gold Coast

When: Monday, January 22. Bat flip at 5.55pm local (6.55pm AEDT), first ball at 6.40pm local (7.40pm 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: Gerard Abood and Sam Nogajski (field), Shawn Craig (third), Ben Treloar (fourth), Bob Stratford (match referee)

Match squads

Heat: Nathan McSweeney (c), Xavier Bartlett, Josh Brown, Max Bryant, Jordan Buckingham, Spencer Johnson, Matthew Kuhnemann, Michael Neser, Jimmy Peirson, Matthew Renshaw, Mitch Swepson, Paul Walter (England), Charlie Wakim, Jack Wildermuth

 

Strikers: Matthew Short (c), Wes Agar, James Bazley, Cameron Boyce, Josh Kann, Thomas Kelly, Ben Manenti, Harry Nielsen (wk), David Payne (England), Lloyd Pope, D'Arcy Short, Henry Thornton, Jake Weatherald

Form guide

Heat: LLWWW (most recent first)

After winning seven games on the bounce to secure top spot, the Heat have now dropped their past two and face their first sudden-death clash of the tournament on Monday. After winning the toss and sending the Sixers in on the Gold Coast – where they have been forced to host their finals due to the second Test between Australia and the West Indies at the Gabba – they didn't adapt as quickly as the Sixers to the new conditions.

But with their depth being tested following the departures of their Australian and overseas stars, Heat coach Wade Seccombe has implored his side to move on quickly following the 39-run defeat to the Sixers. "We have another home final in front of a Queensland crowd in two days to reach a BBL Final," he said. "There's everything to play for, we'll be ready."

Strikers: WWWWW

The Strikers have gone the opposite way to the Heat, hitting form at the right time of the season with five wins on the bounce to storm into the final three. Remarkably, the Strikers sat on the bottom of the BBL|13 standings 15 days ago. But they're now firing on all cylinders with their top three of Matt Short, D'Arcy Short and Jake Weatherald in fine form, with leg-spinners Cameron Boyce and Lloyd Pope in imperious touch to lead the bowling attack in those five straight victories. Henry Hunt and Brendan Doggett have headed home to Adelaide following the win over the Scorchers in the Knockout and drop out of the squad to face the Heat on the Gold Coast, a venue they've played at twice before (winning one) but neither of those games were against the Heat.

"We've got nothing to lose, everyone's written us off all year," head coach Jason Gillespie said after their 50-run win over the Scorchers on Saturday night. "We'll go to the Gold Coast full of beans … we'll be really clear on our plans with bat and ball, we'll just go out there and have some fun and see where it takes us."

Players to watch

It's a big game for Matthew Renshaw whose top score in BBL|13 is 49 not out. But that came way back on December 21 against the Renegades, and in his six innings since he's only managed 60 runs striking at 109.1. Released from the Test squad to play in the Big Bash finals, the left-hander is a proven match-winner for the Heat and will no doubt be wanting to make an impression when it counts to send his side into the decider.

Spencer Johnson's rise to one of Australia's best T20 bowlers has been remarkable, as was his spell of 2-14 with 18 dot balls against the Sixers last Friday. Behind teammate Michael Neser (54.9 per cent), Johnson has the second highest dot ball percentage of bowlers to have delivered more than 100 balls in BBL|13 with 51.1 per cent. He's now up to 12 wickets for the season at an exceptional economy rate of 7.38, which will have him in the conversation for another call up to the Australian T20 squad for next month's series against the Windies.

It's hard to go past the leg-spinning duo of Cameron Boyce and Lloyd Pope who as a partnership are unbeaten in BBL|13. Pope has transformed the Strikers' bowling fortunes since coming into the side five games ago, with the pair delivering on the biggest stage with seven wickets between them to down the Scorchers on Saturday night and progress to the BBL|13 Challenger. The two leggies now have combined for 20 wickets going at under six runs per over in the Strikers five-game winning run, and they'll again be a handful on a slow Carrara Stadium surface.

Head-to-head

Overall: Heat (9 wins), Strikers (9 wins), no result (1)

 

At Carrara Stadium: Never played

 

In finals: Heat (1 win), Strikers (0 wins)

 

Most runs: Jimmy Peirson (306), Matthew Renshaw (278), Chris Lynn (265), Jake Weatherald (234), Alex Carey (212)

 

Most wickets: Rashid Khan (19), Mark Steketee (16), Peter Siddle (16), Wes Agar (15), Michael Neser (15)

The venue

Rapid stats

• Brisbane Heat have won four of their past five matches against the Adelaide Strikers with their only defeat in the period coming in January 2021 when they were bowled out for 90 chasing 162 for victory. The Heat have won their past two games against the Strikers and a third victory in a row would be their outright longest winning streak against them.
• Prior to the victory over the Perth Scorchers in Saturday's Knockout final, the Adelaide Strikers had won four games in a row batting second. However, batting first or second doesn't seem to matter in this head-to-head matchup with both sides winning five games batting first and four chasing across the history of the competition.
• Adelaide Strikers have won their last five BBL matches on the bounce – a sixth consecutive win in this game would equal their longest winning run in the history of the competition (won six in January 2022).
• Adelaide Strikers have a batting false shot rate of 30 per cent in BBL|13, the best of any team in the competition and 10 percentage points fewer than the Brisbane Heat (40 per cent).
• Matt Short has scored 31 per cent of the Adelaide Strikers' runs when he's played in BBL|13, the best rate of any player for a team in the competition. With 13 half-centuries for the Strikers, he is also one away from surpassing Alex Carey (13) for the outright second most scores of 50-plus for the Adelaide Strikers in BBL history. However, Short's output against the Heat across his career is the second lowest of his BBL opponents, averaging 22.62 in eight innings with only one half-century (18.77 average v Melbourne Stars).
• Spencer Johnson (70.4 per cent) has the highest dot ball percentage of any bowler to have bowled more than two overs in the four-over Powerplay this season. Johnson enters the Challenger final after a record-breaking spell in his previous match with his 18 dot balls – including six of six in the Powerplay – the most by a Heat bowler in a men's Big Bash match. Teammates Michael Neser (60.7 per cent) and Xavier Bartlett (60 per cent) are also ranked third and fourth respectively for the highest dot ball percentage in the Powerplay this season.

What's on the line?

A spot in the BBL|13 Final against the Sixers at the SCG! The winner keeps alive their hopes for the ultimate glory in Australian T20 cricket and will travel to Sydney for the decider on Wednesday night, while it's season over for the loser, falling at the penultimate hurdle.

KFC BBL|13 Finals Schedule

The Qualifier: Sydney Sixers beat Brisbane Heat by 39 runs

The Knockout: Adelaide Strikers beat Perth Scorchers by 50 runs

The Challenger: Brisbane Heat v Adelaide Strikers, January 22, 7.40pm AEDT, Carrara Stadium, Gold Coast

The Final: Sydney Sixers v winner of the Challenger. January 24, 7.15pm AEDT, SCG