Adelaide Strikers host Melbourne Stars with both sides searching for their first win of the season
Adelaide Strikers v Melbourne Stars: match preview
Match facts
Who: Adelaide Strikers v Melbourne Stars
What: Match 6, KFC BBL|14
Where: Adelaide Oval, Adelaide
When: December 20, 2024. Bat flip at 6pm local (6.30pm AEDT), first ball at 6.45pm local (7.15pm AEDT)
How to watch: Fox Cricket, Kayo Sports
Buy tickets: Tickets are on sale here
Live scores and final XIs: Match Centre
Highlights, news and reactions after the match: cricket.com.au, the CA Live and Big Bash apps
Officials: Mike Graham-Smith and Gerard Abood (field), Andrew Crozier (third), Peter George (fourth), Steve Davis (match referee)
Match squads
Adelaide Strikers: Matt Short (c), James Bazley, Cam Boyce, Brendan Doggett, Liam Haskett, Chris Lynn, Jamie Overton, Lloyd Pope, Ollie Pope, Alex Ross, Liam Scott, D'Arcy Short, Henry Thornton, Jake Weatherald
Ins: Ollie Pope, Brendan Doggett, Liam Haskett. Outs: Fabian Allen (hamstring), Harry Nielsen
The Strikers have welcomed England Test vice-captain Ollie Pope into their squad along with fast bowlers Brendan Doggett and Liam Haskett.
But they've lost West Indies recruit Fabian Allen who injured his right hamstring while fielding on the boundary in their first up loss to Sydney Thunder on Tuesday.
Harry Nielsen is the other omission for the Strikers with Pope to take over the wicketkeeping duties have kept in all three Tests during England's tour of New Zealand while regular gloveman Jamie Smith was on paternity leave.
Melbourne Stars: Marcus Stoinis (c), Hilton Cartwright, Ben Duckett, Brody Couch, Tom Curran, Sam Harper, Glenn Maxwell, Jonathan Merlo, Adam Milne, Tom Rogers, Peter Siddle, Doug Warren, Beau Webster
Ins: Glenn Maxwell, Ben Duckett, Peter Siddle, Doug Warren. Outs: Campbell Kellaway, Blake Macdonald, Joe Clarke, Hamish McKenzie
Late change: Doug Warren (in), Hamish McKenzie (out)
Glenn Maxwell and Pope's Test teammate Ben Duckett have been added to the Stars squad for their clash with the Strikers. Maxwell has recovered from a hamstring strain suffered against Pakistan last month, while Duckett arrived in Australia on Thursday following England's 2-1 Test series victory over New Zealand. Veteran quick Peter Siddle also returns to the squad.
Club news
Adelaide Strikers
Melbourne Stars
Get the latest
Top performers
Most Runs
BBL|14 BKT Golden Bat
| Player | Total |
|---|---|
1
Cooper Connolly
C Connolly
|
351 |
|
2
David Warner
D Warner
|
346 |
|
3
Mitchell Owen
M Owen
|
308 |
|
4
Glenn Maxwell
G Maxwell
|
297 |
|
5
Marcus Stoinis
M Stoinis
|
296 |
|
6
Matthew Renshaw
M Renshaw
|
280 |
|
7
Max Bryant
M Bryant
|
259 |
|
8
Alex Ross
A Ross
|
256 |
Most Wickets
BBL|14 BKT Golden Arm
| Player | Total |
|---|---|
|
1
Jason Behrendorff
J Behrendorff
|
17 |
|
2
Tom Rogers
T Rogers
|
16 |
|
3
Mark Steketee
M Steketee
|
15 |
|
4
Lance Morris
L Morris
|
15 |
|
5
Lloyd Pope
L Pope
|
15 |
|
6
Spencer Johnson
S Johnson
|
13 |
|
7
Henry Thornton
H Thornton
|
12 |
|
8
Xavier Bartlett
X Bartlett
|
12 |
Most sixes scored
BBL|14
| Player | Total |
|---|---|
|
1
Glenn Maxwell
G Maxwell
|
26 |
|
2
Mitchell Owen
M Owen
|
22 |
|
3
Cooper Connolly
C Connolly
|
19 |
|
4
Matthew Renshaw
M Renshaw
|
17 |
|
5
Tim David
T David
|
15 |
|
6
Max Bryant
M Bryant
|
14 |
|
7
Josh Brown
J Brown
|
12 |
|
8
Jake Fraser-McGurk
J Fraser-McGurk
|
12 |
Local knowledge
Rapid stats
- Melbourne Stars have won their past three matches against Adelaide Strikers and five of the past six. They've also won their past two matches at Adelaide Oval, including last year's New Year's Eve contest when they chased down a club record 206 to win. A fourth consecutive win in this game would be the outright longest winning run by either team in the history of this fixture.
- Melbourne Stars have hit a boundary once every 7.8 balls faced across their two innings in BBL14 – more than two deliveries than they averaged across their last eight innings of the BBL|13 season (once every 5.4 balls faced).
- Marcus Stoinis (Melbourne Stars) has scored 159 runs at an average of 53 across his past five T20 innings and has hit 55 off 19 balls and 74 in his last two innings against the Strikers.
- Matt Short has now scored the outright second most BBL runs for Adelaide Strikers (1844) men's team after going past Alex Carey (1837) in the side's first up BBL|14 loss to Sydney Thunder.
- Jamie Overton (Adelaide Strikers) has taken 10 wickets at a strike rate of nine across his last four BBL innings, taking at least two wickets in each of those four innings; although, he did not take a wicket in his only previous match against the Melbourne Stars.
What's on the line?
Plenty for the Stars, who after a tough few years, would have been hoping to get off to a better start in BBL|14. It'll be a long way back from 0-3 to being the season, so they desperately need to get their campaign back on track.
The Strikers are also hunting their first win of the season and will be looking to bounce back from a narrow loss to Sydney Thunder in their season opener on Tuesday.
KFC BBL|14 standings
| Team | M | W | L | T | N/R | NRR | Ded. | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1
HUR
|
10 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 1 | -0.12 | 0 | 15 |
|
2
SIX
|
10 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0.156 | 0 | 14 |
|
3
THU
|
10 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0.34 | 0 | 12 |
|
4
STA
|
10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0.135 | 0 | 10 |
|
5
SCO
|
10 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0.219 | 0 | 8 |
|
6
REN
|
10 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0.139 | 0 | 8 |
|
7
HEA
|
10 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 1 | -0.831 | 0 | 7 |
|
8
STR
|
10 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 0 | -0.122 | 0 | 6 |
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
T: Ties
N/R: No results
NRR: Net Run Rate
Ded.: Deductions
PTS: Total points
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