Melbourne Stars will square off against Brisbane Heat in the 51st match of the Big Bash League 2021-22. The iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) will host this exciting contest. Melbourne Stars suffered a loss against Adelaide Strikers in their previous fixture. Bowling first, the Stars did a good job of restricting the Strikers to 155. Sam Rainbird and Clint Hinchliffe picked up two wickets apiece.

The batters failed to adapt to the conditions as they only managed to score 132 in their 20 overs, falling short by 23 runs. Hilton Cartwright top-scored with 49 but lacked support from the other end. The Stars need to be on their toes while facing the Heat in their next encounter.

Brisbane Heat, meanwhile, lost to Adelaide Strikers in their last game. Batting first, the Strikers scored 161 in their 20 overs, losing four wickets. Will Prestwidge of the Heat scalped two wickets.What followed was a disappointing performance from the batters as they were bundled out on 90, losing the game by 71 runs. The Heat will be hoping for a much-improved performance in their upcoming clash against the Stars.

Both sides are coming off a loss in their previous fixtures and will be eager to gain some momentum with the business end of the tournament approaching. Time is running out for the two sides and they need to be at their best to move up the points table.

JM Clarke is the top run-scorer for Melbourne Stars with 313 runs at a strike rate of 147. He has struck 25 fours and 15 sixes. Hilton Cartwright has also made 295 runs at a strike rate of 142.BL Couch has been the best bowler for Melbourne Stars and has picked up 13 wickets while bowling at an average of 22 and an economy rate of 8.41.

Brisbane Heat are placed at the 7th spot in the Big Bash League 2021-22 points table with 3 wins and 8 losses from their 11 matches of the league. The team has 15 points.Sam Heazlett is the top run-scorer for Brisbane Heat with 246 runs at a strike rate of 126. He has struck 14 fours and 12 sixes. Ben Duckett has also made 242 runs at a strike rate of 138.JJ Bazley has been the best bowler for Brisbane Heat and has picked up 11 wickets while bowling at an average of 21 and an economy rate of 7.45.

MELBOURNE STARS VS BRISBANE HEAT TEAM PREVIEWS

MELBOURNE STARS

The Melbourne Stars are almost back to full-strength with Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Joe Burns, and Adam Zampa all playing the previous match. Unfortunately for them, it was not enough to avoid defeat and leaves the Stars with a tough ask in their remaining two matches.

Joe Clarke and Hilton Cartwright have been batting quite well and certainly add a lot of depth to the batting lineup. It is tough for the Stars to keep adjusting with different players available for different matches but there is no doubt that it does have the talent on paper. We don’t think you should judge it too harshly after one poor performance.

Adam Zampa and Glenn Maxwell are going to lead the bowling attack while Brody Couch, Sam Rainbird, and possibly Nathan Coulter-Nile are going to all be the seamers in the lineup. Marcus Stoinis did not bowl in his first match back but he too can chip in if needed.

BRISBANE HEAT

Brisbane Heat played a couple of matches with a largely inexperienced team that tried its best but was unable to pull off an upset. It should have almost its entire first-choice team back for this match and be able to put up a much stronger fight. Fakhar Zaman, Chris Lynn, Jimmy Pierson, Max Bryant, Ben Duckett, and James Bazley are all going to be available for selection.

Heat will also welcome back Michael Neser and Mitch Swepson for this match, both of whom will strengthen the bowling attack and lengthen the batting lineup.

Brisbane Heat was just beginning to gain some momentum when it got struck by the COVID outbreak and it is a bit unfair to expect it to jump back at the same level once more. We do think, though, that this is a team that can quite easily match or even overpower the Melbourne Stars.

It has the power in the batting and now its bowling lineup is probably at its strongest as well.

 MATCH DETAILS:

Match – Melbourne Stars vs Brisbane Heat – Match 51
Venue – Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne
Time – 01:45 PM IST, 08:15 AM GMT

WINNING CHANCES OF TODAY MATCH FOR THE BOTH TEAMS

Brisbane Heat is full of experienced and young players of the t20 format. The batting order of this team is also strong and some well-known hitters of the t20 format are part of the squad of this team, so the winning chances of today’s match for the Brisbane Heat have been increased. The equation of who will win today’s cricket match prediction and who will win the cricket match today is mentioned as under.
Brisbane Heat have a 52% chance to win this match.
Melbourne Stars has a 48% chance to win this match.

TOSS PREDICTION IN TODAY MATCH PREDICTION

The toss will play an important role in the decision of all matches of Big Bash League. Having a good total on the board is always a big advantage in these kinds of big matches. According to toss prediction, the team that will win the toss may choose to bat first.

PITCH REPORT AND CONDITIONS

The 51st match of Big Bash League 2021-22 is going to be held at Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne. We had observed in the previous matches played here that the pitch here at this venue is good for batting. The track is slower than the others we have seen and helps the spinners quite a bit. We are hoping that the surface is bound to get slower and be a bit more difficult for batting in this match. A score of 185 is going to be tough to chase.

WEATHER REPORT FOR TODAY MATCH

The weather forecast in Melbourne is predicting some clouds around on match day but the weather forecast does not predict rain. We should be able to have a full uninterrupted match.

PROBABLE XIS

MELBOURNE STARS:

• Marcus Stoinis
• Joe Clarke (wk)
• Glenn Maxwell (c)
• Beau Webster
• Hilton Cartwright
• Joe Burns
• Brody Couch
• Ahmed Daniyal
• Clint Hinchliffe
• Sam Rainbird
• Adam Zampa

BRISBANE HEAT

• Chris Lynn (c)
• Nathan McSweeney
• Lachlan Pfeffer (wk)
• Ben Duckett
• Sam Heazlett
• Jake Lehmann
• Xavier Bartlett
• Will Prestwidge
• Matthew Kuhnemann
• Liam Guthrie
• Mujeeb Ur Rahman

MELBOURNE STARS VS BRISBANE HEAT HEAD-TO-HEAD

OVERALL

Matches- 15, Melbourne Stars –6, Brisbane Heat – 9, N/R- 0

IN MELBOURNE

Matches- 5, Melbourne Stars – 1, Brisbane Heat – 4, N/R- 0

PROBABLE TOP PERFORMERS

GLENN MAXWELL – MELBOURNE STARS

Glenn Maxwell has been a key member of the Stars’ lineup for quite a few seasons. He has played some decent knocks even this time around, but he hasn’t been able to show a lot of consistency. The Victorian has to put his A-game forward if the Stars wish to get themselves into the top four.

ADAM ZAMPA – MELBOURNE STARS

Adam Zampa has been a genuine wicket-taker for Australia and he has replicated similar performances even for the Stars. Although he hasn’t taken a whole lot of wickets this season, he can be expected to bowl a match-winning spell in the upcoming fixture against the Heat.