Match: Perth Scorchers v Brisbane Heat
Date: 5 December, Thursday
Time: 4:10pm SGT/1:40pm IST/8:10am GMT
Competition: Big Bash League 2016/17
Venue: Western Australian Cricket Association (WACA), Perth
TV Channel: In Singapore, Star Cricket will provide live TV coverage.
Live Streaming: Hotstar
Overview
Perth Scorchers are among the most consistent teams of Big Bash League, having won the tournament twice and reached the semi-final stages four times. But they did not have a solid start to their tournament, losing their first game and getting past the line in the second in an unconvincing manner.
However, they have gathered momentum by winning their next two matches by huge margins and are sitting pretty at the top of the table with three wins from four matches.
England imports Ian Bell, 149 runs from four matches, and David Willey (six wickets) have contributed quite a lot to the success of the team so far. BBL debutant Mitchell Johnson has also been effective and he has enjoyed bowling at the WACA.
Scorchers would want to collect as many wins as possible before Shaun Marsh, Mitchell Marsh and Ashton Agar (likely) go out on international duty for the One Day International series against Pakistan but would be missing captain Adam Voges and first-choice spinner Samuel Badree due to injuries.
On the other hand, Heat, who had started the tournament with three wins from as many games, were stopped by Sydney Sixers on Tuesday. Brendon McCullum's team have so far relied on their batting prowess and it has worked well for them, except in the game against Sixers as Moises Henrqiues' men gunned down a target of 187 with two balls to spare.
Chris Lynn has been the backbone of Heat batting unit and the former skipper has taken the game away from oppositions with his batting. The tournament's top-scorer (211 runs, 4 matches) along with McCullum have been providing their team with solid starts.
Heat would want to get over Tuesday's loss with another win, which will take them to the top of the table, at the WACA today. However, their lack of options, following Badree's injury, in the bowling department might cost them the game against the all-round Scorchers.
TV Schedule
India: Star Sports
US: Willow TV
UK: Sky Sports 2
Australia: Network 10
South Africa: Supersport
Team News
Scorchers
Squad: Voges (c), S Marsh, Bancroft, Bell, Whiteman (wk), Klinger, M Marsh, Johnson, Agar, Richardson, Turner, Valente, Tye, Willey
Heat
Squad: McCullum (c), Burns, Doolan, Fekete, Feldman, Ross, Cutting, Badree, Floros, Heazlett, Labuschagne, Lynn, Buchanan, Peirson, Reardon, Steketee, Swepson, Wildermuth
