THE EDGE: The Edge previews the BBL Final: Sydney Sixers v Brisbane Heat with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
Final: Sydney Sixers v Brisbane Heat
MATCH OVERVIEW:
It’s Big Bash Final time on Betdaq Betting Exchange on Wednesday morning in Sydney! This is a repeat of the Qualifier last week; Sydney Sixers won that and then Brisbane Heat managed to come through the Challenger on Monday morning. These two finished the group stage sitting in the top two spots, and while Perth Scorchers were going for three Big Bash titles in a row, it’s fair to say we have the best two sides from the Big Bash this season in the Final. Obviously the elephant in the room is a lot of international stars have left for the Dubai T20 league along with the South African T20 league, and that has really reflected poorly on the Big Bash.
We have players leaving at the playoff stage to play in the early stages of other franchise leagues. Money talks, but Cricket Australia might need to fix this situation before next season. Brisbane Heat have been one of the worst hit sides. After their batting collapsed in their final group game and then against Sydney Sixers, it looked like they didn’t have much chance heading into the Challenger against Adelaide Strikers; who were also without their best batsman and bowler. Step forward Josh Brown though who smashed 140 runs from 57 balls – a strike rate of 245.61 and quite possibly the best Big Bash innings of the season to win the game effectively on his own.
The next top score for the Heat was 33 off 29 balls, and everyone else didn’t manage to get into double figures. Obviously the Heat batting is a major worry. For the Sixers, everything seems set fair. They must come into this game with a huge amount of confidence having already beaten the Heat and then also beating Perth Scorchers to claim second. They’ve always tended to have a settled squad, and obviously have a lot of experience winning the Big Bash too. They’ll be hard to beat!
WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:
Sydney will be delighted to have home advantage for the Final. That was their reward for beating Brisbane Heat on the Gold Coast in the Qualifier. The Big Bash has been a big success this season crowd wise – numbers were on the decline but we’ve definitely had a bounce back effect this Aussie summer. The SCG hasn’t been a massively high scoring venue this season, but the scores have been decent. The first inning scores have been; 175/6 (won), 155/7 (won), 154/8 (chased) and 151/7 (won). With the added pressure of a Final, it feels like anything 155 or bigger would be a great score to defend. I’d definitely bat first if I won the toss.
RECOMMENDED BET:
Brisbane Heat got to use Matt Renshaw after Cricket Australia released him, but he only managed six runs on Monday morning. Obviously the Heat aren’t the same side that topped the table – they never really had the services of Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne but losing Colin Munro and Sam Billings to the ILT20 is clearly a huge blow. They put up a massive score on Monday with a freak innings, but without another freak innings I can see their batting struggling again, especially against a good attack. The Sixers are without James Vince which is a blow, again off to the ILT20 in Dubai. Overall though, the Sixers have much better batting and I feel that will win the day here – they are worth backing at 1.84.
The Edge Says:
Three points win Sydney Sixers to beat Brisbane Heat at 1.84 with Betdaq Exchange
View the market here -> https://betdaq.biz/SixHea
IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:
I fully respect that fact that Josh Brown went mental for the Heat at the top of the order, but I still feel there’s value in taking on their batting line-up. Perhaps with that form, you could opt to wait until he gets out as opener and then take on the rest of the batting order. Outside of him, the rest have been quite poor and they were schooled by the Sixers too. I would also suggest batting first could offer an edge here; not only for the pressure of a Final run chase, but conditions have looked tricky for chasing. In an ideal world, the Sixers will bat first post around 150 and then we can get some nice value on them defending it.
