The second leg of tonight’s double header (triple header if you count the Ashes) is a rare game in Perth this season between the Perth Scorchers and the Brisbane Heat. The Heat started the season with a comfortable loss to the Thunder in the nations capital two nights ago, and now travel across the country to take on another strong outfit. It’s the first game of the season for the Scorchers, who look understrength with some of their usual international batsmen missing this season and Jhye Richardson, Mitch Marsh & Josh Inglis all yet to return from international duties. It’s an absolute scorcher (haha) in Perth, so should be perfect conditions for a quality game of cricket.

 

Draftstars has put up a $15,000 for our late game, with top prize $1,133. The pricing is spread evenly, with a few cheapies to consider, a few very affordable guns, and plenty in between. There are a few excellent value plays which will allow us to get up to the big guns.

 

 

Expected Scorchers Xl: Bancroft, Patterson, Evans, Munro, Turner, Agar, Hardie, Kelly, Tye, Hatzoglou, Behrendorff (Moody, Hobson)

 

Expected Heat Xl: Lynn, Bryant, Duckett, Heazlett, Peirson, Wildermuth, Bazley, Bartlett, Guthrie, Kuhnemann, Mujeeb (McSweeney, Gannon)

 

The Scorchers start as handsome $1.56 favourites, which shows that they’ve managed to put together a strong lineup despite missing half their team from last season. The Strength is clearly the bowling, with Tye, Agar and Behrendorff experienced internationals, Kelly an underrated & reliable force, and Hardie & Hatzoglou both coming off breakout seasons. The batting is far less explosive, but Bancroft, Munro & Turner can all have big days, and Evans sounds like a useful international even if he’s completely anonymous.

 

The Heat are perennially disappointing despite having a number of explosive talents, with an over reliance on Chris Lynn to set up massive totals. Despite the loss to the Thunder, they will hope that Duckett & Heazlett can continue the promise they showed as middle order rocks, and the likes of Bryant, Wildermuth, Bartlett & Guthrie can all deliver on their undoubted promise. Mujeeb is also a star, and they’ll hope his quiet night is not repeated.

 

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Love It - Ashton Agar $11,000

It’s hard to know how this price was selected, other than the fact that Agar did not play at all in the Big Bash last season. Among the top handful of players on the slate both in real life and in terms of fantasy history, Agar will be a key cog in the bowling plans and may be required to bat in the top 6 with the Scorchers thin in that area. While we missed out on seeing him in action at the World Cup, we’ve been hearing good things about some growth in his short form batting over the off-season. Too cheap, dual-position, lock it in.

 

Love It - Xavier Bartlett $12,600

I was an unabashed fan of Bartlett last season, but we often saw him subbed out of the game after an early over or two. With the likes of Laughlin, Gregory and Morkel moving on for this season, Bartlett is much closer to the top of the pecking order at the Heat and is the perfect breakout age at 23. We saw some batting ability in game 1, and I fully expect the wickets to start flowing as the season goes on. Get him while he’s still cheap!

 

Don’t Love It - Andrew Tye $19,200

On the other end of the age spectrum, 35-year-old Tye is looking a little expensive at this stage of his career. While his huge bag of tricks means that he can continue to operate in his usual way even as his physical abilities decline, there are at least a handful of bowlers that I have more interest in tonight.

 

Don’t Love It - Sam Heazlett $12,600

Heazlett did look great in game 1, but we’ve seen this several times before. A big, polished innings, followed by several failures in a row. Now in the second half of his 20s, it may be getting a little late for Heazlett to start consistently delivering on his talent. With the Scorchers boasting a quality attack, I’m leaning towards avoiding Heazlett, banking on his usual boom/bust pattern continuing, and hoping his good start makes him more popular than usual.

 

Who Knows - Laurie Evans $9,600

This 34-year-old Englishman looks to have some solid stats, with an average of 33 in T20 cricket at a strike rate of 130. His career has apparently blossomed in his 30s, and he’s started to get some traction in T20 leagues around the world. While don’t expect him to take the tournament by storm, the opportunity to bat in the top order as big favourites makes me think he is starting the season far too cheap. Having said that, many a middling English import has failed to adapt to conditions in the past, so tread carefully.

Suggested Draftstars Lineup

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