Brisbane Heat Preview
Brisbane Heat have been one of the most consistent sides in this tournament, but have been quite unlucky over the last couple of years. They’ve won only one season (the second edition of the tournament), and since their win they’ve blown hot and cold. They finished 3rd last year after winning two playoffs, but failed to beat the Perth Scorchers to go through to the final. So what’s in store for them this year? Let’s find out in this preview.
Squad:
Xavier Bartlett, Tom Cooper, Sam Heazlett, Chris Lynn, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Jimmy Peirson (c), Mark Steketee, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Williams, Marnus Labuschagne, Michael Neser, Ben Duckett, Tom Abell, Jack Wildermuth, James Bazley, Matt Kuhnemann, Max Bryant, Connor Sully
** Marnus Labuschagne, Michael Neser and Mitchell Swepson won’t be available for most of the season due to international commitments. Mark Steketee won’t initially be available, as he’s playing the tour game against England Lions.
Preview:
Joe Burns – who was a veteran performer for the Brisbane Heat – has now gone to the Stars, but they’ve brought in a good enough replacement in the form of Ben Duckett. Duckett has had an amazing year with the bat, averaging 32 and striking at nearly 150 around the different T20 leagues in 2021. The Heat have also signed in Neser from the Strikers, but unfortunately he’ll be out with international commitments for this season. With that being said, let’s look deeper into the Heat’s squad.
The top order looks strong with the signing of Duckett. In addition, they have the BBL veteran (and probably one of the best batsmen going around in this league) Chris Lynn. Right from the start of the BBL, Lynn has been the most consistent batsman, and has the most runs in this league, at a whopping strike rate of 151.05. Probably opening the batting with him will be Max Bryant. He didn’t have a great BBL last year but he’ll still be their number 1 choice for an opening spot. At number 3 they have Duckett, who – as I said – has been in absolutely splendid form this year in the shortest form of the game. As such, they have a strong top order that they can rely on without Joe Burns. Last year, they chopped and changed their top order, which arguably led to their downfall, but hopefully they don’t do that again this year.
Onto the middle order: we have the old faces of Sam Heazlett and Jimmy Peirson. Heazlett didn’t have a particularly great BBL in the previous edition, and so would love to cash in this season. In contrast, last season the skipper Jimmy Peirson was terrific as a floater in the middle order. Apart from these familiar faces, they also have Tom Abell, who can bat in pretty much any position. He was terrific in the Vitality Blast for Somerset, and has been impressive in the 7 T20s he played this year: scoring 303 runs at an average 60.6 and a strike rate of 159.5. They also have Renegades veteran Tom Cooper as another finisher, so it’ll be interesting to see who will play between Cooper and Abell.
Coming onto the bowling, Brisbane Heat have Wildermuth – who can also bat a bit at the end – as well as Mujeeb ur Rahman, one of the best spinners going around at the moment. Their emerging seamer Xavier Barlett also looked quite impressive last season, with the squad finally rounded out by Steketee. Steketee will unfortunately be out for the first few games because of the tour game against England Lions, but was quite impressive last season, despite going for runs, with 24 wickets to his name. With that, their squad looks well-rounded and –along with the Sixers – will probably be the red-hot favourites to win the BBL.
Team Stats:
- Their historic batting run rate of 8.22 is the 2nd best for any team
- - Their highest run scorer is Chris Lynn, with 2790 runs
- - Their highest wicket taker is Mark Steketee, with 66 wickets
- - Since 2017, Brisbane Heat have the 2nd fewest wins, with just 25
- - Since 2017, Brisbane Heat score at 8.4 an over in the Powerplay, the best for any team
Ground Stats
- Their home ground (Brisbane Cricket Ground) has a batting average of 24.21
- - The Run Rate there is 8.18: no main ground is higher
- - A six gets hit there every 21.43 balls
- - Pace goes at 8.66 an over at Brisbane Cricket Ground, and Spin at just 7.20 an over
Predictions:
I think they’ll finish in the top 4 fairly easily, even without some of their stars. Obviously it’s going to be tough without Steketee in the first few games for the bowlers, but they have a brilliant squad, with particular strength in batting, so let’s see what happens as the season progresses!
