With the Ashes behind us and the BBL regular season drawing to its climax all eyes will be on the Adelaide Strikers and Sydney Sixers as they vie for positions in the top half of the table.

The match is scheduled for 5:05pm AEDT at the picturesque Adelaide Oval, with perfect conditions forecast.

 

Draftstars have put up a $15,000 contest for this one as well as high roller and cut-price options.

 

Draftstars

 

Strikers Squad: Peter Siddle (c), Fawad Ahmed, Ian Cockbain, Harry Conway, Ryan Gibson, Henry Hunt, Thomas Kelly, Harry Nielsen (wk), Liam O’Connor, Matt Renshaw, Liam Scott, Matt Short, Henry Thornton, Jake Weatherald, Jon Wells, Daniel Worrall. 

Sixers Squad: Abbott, Avendano, Bird, Christian, Dwarshuis, J.Edwards, M.Edwards, Henriques (c), Hughes, Kerr, Murphy, Neil-Smith, O'Keefe, Philippe, Pope, Winter

 

The Strikers are on a hot run of form, having won their past three matches. This can mostly be attributed to their miserly bowling performances despite missing key names, however their batting has also been much improved.

 

Henry Thornton has been a revelation since inheriting the role of express strike bowler from Wes Agar. The right-arm tearaway quick has taken 7 wickets in three matches and has not gone for more than 7.5 runs per over in that time.

 

Peter Siddle is also leading the attack well, displaying his experience at the crucial points of each innings. Off-spinner Matt Short has limited the impact of Rashid Khan’s exit brilliantly, squeezing the batsmen at one end while taking key wickets.

 

Short is also earning his pay cheque with the bat, operating at an elite strike rate during the early power play overs to get the Strikers off to a strong start.

 

The Sixers are also well placed at this point of the tournament, sitting second on the table with a strong win against the high-flying Sydney Thunder under their belt.

 

As usual, the men in magenta are rolling out one of the best bowling attacks in the competition every match and their batting has been steady despite no one individual dominating.

 

Josh Phillipe recaptured his early season form with a half century in the recent derby, while Dan Christian, Moises Henriques and Daniel Hughes have put their hands up when required.

 

With the ball the Sixers have benefited from variety and experience in their pace attack, while the outstanding return of Steve O’Keefe ensures they have bowlers to suit all conditions.

 

Looking for Draftstars scores from previous editions from the BBL? Our Free Players Logs + Ground Fantasy breakdowns are now available in our BBL11 Data Tools

 

Love It – Sean Abbott ($18,600)

What this slate desperately needs but lacks is reliable premium options…enter Sean Abbott. A true all-rounder at this stage of his career, Abbott has only been under 41 points once in this tournament and can score through multiple avenues. Set to take on a sometimes-iffy Strikers batting line-up, I think Abbott is a safe play.

Love It – Henry Thornton ($13,500)

As one of the quickest bowlers gracing the BBL currently, Thornton has a genuine point of difference which is crucial to making an impact in such a competition league. While Sydney bowlers often share their wickets, if Adelaide are to get on top I could see Thornton taking a few and making a mockery of his price tag.

Don’t Love It – Dan Christian ($17,000)

Since his mid-season purple patch, the wily veteran has failed to take a wicket in three games, losing bowling responsibilities to the specialists. While he will likely get a couple of overs here, you are essentially paying top dollar for a middle order batsman. So for this reason, he is a fade for me.

Don’t Love It – Jake Weatherald ($14,000)

The boffins at Draftstars seem to have a lot of faith in this guy because his price remains ludicrously high for a player so woefully out of form. Demoted to the middle order, Weatherald has failed to fire with just one score of substance to his name. Perhaps a price drop would make him desirable, but at $14k it’s a no from me.

Who Knows – Josh Phillipe ($18,800)

It has been zero or hero for Phillipe this season. The rising wicket keeper has four 50s to his name, but with 3 ducks in his last 5 outings Phillipe can be anxiety-inducing to pick in DFS. What will we get tonight?

Suggested Draftstars Line-up

 

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