Brisbane Heat will square off against Melbourne Stars in the curtain raiser of the Big Bash League season 13 at the Brisbane Cricket Ground (The Gabba) on Thursday, December 7.
While Heat had almost a fairy tale ending in the last season as they qualified for the Challenger but lost to Perth Scorchers in the summit clash by five wickets, Stars had a season to forget as they lost 11 out of their 14 games and finished at the bottom of the points table.
Heat have plenty of firepower in their batting department. Sam Billings, Marnus Labuschagne, Usman Khawaja and Colin Munro among others would like to take down the Stars' bowling attack whereas Spencer Johnson Mitchell Swepson and others will shoulder the responsibility of keeping the Stars batters in check.
On the other hand, Stars would hope that their captain Glenn Maxwell carries his international purple patch into the season. Maxwell is in ominous touch with the willow in hand and might cause more than a few headaches for Heat once he starts to get going. Their bowling is also capable of restraining any batting order and hence it will lead to an intriguing contest.
Brisbane Cricket Ground Pitch Report
Popularly known as 'The Gabba', the ground has hosted 10 T20Is thus far. The wicket is considered the second-quickest in Australia after Perth and provides ample bounce and pace to the seamers. Teams batting first have enjoyed playing at the venue as they have won seven games while the chasing team tends to struggle and the ground has only witnessed three successful run chases in T20I history.
Brisbane Cricket Ground Record and Stats
Total T20I Matches: 10
Matches won batting first: 7
Matches won bowling first: 3
Average first innings score: 166
Average second innings score: 146
Highest total scored: 209/3 by Australia vs South Africa
Highest score chased: 161/4 by Australia vs South Africa
Lowest total recorded: 114 all out by South Africa vs Australia
Lowest total defended: 150/7 by Bangladesh vs Zimbabwe
