Brisbane Heat vs Melbourne Stars Preview & Prediction | BBL|14 | League Stage
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Brisbane Heat couldn’t ask for a better fixture to respond following their thrashing at the hands of Sydney Sixers with the winless Melbourne Stars visiting the Gabba.
Date & time: Wednesday January 1st 2025: USA PT – 12:15am / USA ET – 3:15am / UK – 8:15am
Venue: Brisbane Cricket Ground, Brisbane, Australia
Weather: Dry and cloudy with patches of sunshine as temperatures hover at around 20c.
How to watch: USA – Willow TV / UK – Sky Sports & Sky Go / Australia – Seven Network, Foxtel & Kayo Sports
How to get tickets for BBL|14: Click here for the latest ticket information for Brisbane Heat vs Melbourne Stars
Brisbane Heat Preview: Victory required following successive losses
Anyone hoping for a positive reaction from Brisbane Heat following defeat away at Perth Scorchers got the opposite against Sydney Sixers. Moises Henriques’ men came to the Gabba and dominated from the early stages, eventually restricting Brisbane to just 138/9 from their allocated 20 overs, an under-par total.
In contrast, the Heat bowlers lacked any sort of cutting edge as they were taken apart by the Sydney Sixers top order. In the end Brisbane fell to an eight-wicket loss, leaving them now outside the play-off places after four games played
Melbourne Stars Preview: No points at the halfway stage
It’s now been five games played for Melbourne Stars and it’s still difficult to see where their first points of BBL 14 are going to come from. The Stars aren’t just losing, they are losing by decisive margins and we are yet to see a complete team performance from them despite having played half their group matches already.
Their most recent loss came by 18 runs courtesy of Sydney Thunder. David Warner’s side piled up 182/8 in Canberra, before defending it against a totally out of form Melbourne Stars batting line-up with only Ben Duckett offering any real resistance.
Brisbane Heat Betting Analysis
Since losing his place in the Australian Test side, Nathan McSweeney has returned to Brisbane with a point to prove and is showing it. Across three innings, he has accumulated 120 runs, top scoring for the Heat in two of those knocks. When taking into account, it would be no surprise to see him among the runs again here, so back McSweeney to register 30+ runs via the ‘Batter Milestones’ market.
Melbourne Stars Betting Analysis
Maybe it’s the freedom of playing as an overseas signing and coming from a successful England red ball team, but Ben Duckett has made the transition to T20 cricket seem easy since joining the Stars. After a first ball 0 in his opening knock, Duckett has put up scores of 68 and 67 respectively in losing efforts. He is seeing and striking the ball well, so bettors could profit from his batting by making a play on him to accrue over 23.5 match runs.
Brisbane Heat vs Melbourne Stars Expert Prediction
This serves as the real acid test for Brisbane Heat. If they want to get themselves back in the hunt, they must take advantage of Melbourne Stars’ struggles and put two points on the board here at home. They are a stronger all-round side and provided they can get rid of the Stars’ international trio of Duckett, Marcus Stoinis and Glenn Maxwell with relatively little damage done, then this should end in victory for Brisbane.
Brisbane Heat vs Melbourne Stars Top Tip: Brisbane Heat to win
