Brisbane will take on Perth in the last league encounter of the Australia T20 League to eye playoff qualification. Perth have already qualified for the playoffs.
Match Timings: Jan 26, 7:35 AM IST
Team Preview
The current league-leader Perth will end its glorious league-stage campaign against Brisbane to finish the table on top. Perth have already qualified for the playoffs and the NRR is too high to finish in the top two. In the previous outing, they edged past Maxwell’s troops to secure the playoff qualification and moved to the top spot. Jason Roy smashed a quick half-century, and Munro got 30-balls 46. After posting 182 in the first innings, Perth picked both openers early, but Nick Larkin fought hard for Melbourne. Perth took the final laugh by 11 runs. Perth’s campaign is going strong with every game, and they are going to finish in top-two. Perth have 32 points from 13 matches, and they need one bash boost point to qualify for the January 30’s qualifier. If they win, they will finish top of the table. Everything is going in the right way for Perth. After adding just two points from the first three matches, they bounced back hard to take the top spot. The top-order is already in good touch, and the captaincy ticks all the good points. Colin Munro has been outstanding with the bat, and he had the best campaign in Australia T20 League. Munro has aggregated 404 runs so far at an average of 36.72, and he is now one of the top-scorers of the season. Jhye Richardson is capturing all the attention with a quality bowling display. He bagged most 26 wickets this season at an average of 12.07. They have the most balanced unit and current performance put them ahead in the race of title triumph.
On the other hand, Brisbane are at the same stage where they ended the last edition. For one more time, Chris Lynn’s troops require a much-needed victory to crack the playoffs code. In the previous outing, they overcame Melbourne-R to catch valuable points. Lynn’s 52 and Labuschagne’s 31-balls 49 helped Brisbane to get 173 on board. Bowlers kept them in the race with regular strikes. Melbourne were not even in the frame, and Brisbane clinched this must-win game by 26 runs. The equation is clear for Brisbane as they have to look for the full four points. If they miss out the bash boost point, it still won’t trouble Lynn. Defeat will knock them out of the competition for a successive season. Chris Lynn needs support from other players, and Labuchagne showed some good intent after playing a match-winning knock. Brisbane have to play its best game to outplay Perth in this virtual knock out game.
Pitch Report
SCG’s surface offers good assistance to the batsmen, and batting would be easier later the match progresses. Chasing might be tricky with a score of above 160.
Possible XI
Brisbane-H
Max Bryant, Chris Lynn (c), Marnus Labuschagne, Joe Denly, Joe Burns, Jimmy Peirson (wk), Lewis Gregory, Mark Steketee, Xavier Bartlett, Mitchell Swepson, Ben Laughlin
Perth-S
Jason Roy, Liam Livingstone, Colin Munro, Josh Inglis (wk), Mitchell Marsh, Ashton Turner (c), Aaron Hardie, Jhye Richardson, Andrew Tye, Jason Behrendorff, Fawad Ahmed
Key Players
Brisbane-H
Chris Lynn
Season so far – M: 9, Runs: 369, Avg: 41
Mark Steketee
Season so far – M: 12, Wickets: 22, Avg: 18.72
Perth-S
Colin Munro
Season so far – M: 12, Runs: 404, Avg: 36.72
Jhye Richardson
Season so far – M: 13, Wickets: 26, Avg: 12.07
