Perth Scorchers v Melbourne Stars: match preview

Top spot and a double chance in finals is up for grabs as the Scorchers host the Stars in Perth

Match facts

Who: Perth Scorchers v Melbourne Stars

What: Match 39, KFC BBL|15

Where: Optus Stadium, Perth

When: Saturday, January 17. Bat flip at 4.30pm local (7.30pm AEDT), first ball at 5.15pm local (8.15pm AEDT)

How to watch: Fox Cricket, Kayo Sports

Listen: ABC, SEN Radio. Listen in standard and real-time with no delay to live play via Cricket Radio on the CA Live app. Find out more here

Buy tickets: Public ticket allocations have been exhausted. Only a small number of membership seats remain. Get them here

Live scores: Match Centre

Highlights, news and reactions after the match: cricket.com.au, the CA Live and Big Bash apps

Officials: Sam Nogajski and Mike Graham-Smith (field), Sharad Patel (third), Mitch Claydon (fourth), David Johnston (match referee)

Match squads

Perth Scorchers: Finn Allen, Mahli Beardman, Cooper Connolly, Brody Couch, Laurie Evans, Sam Fanning, Aaron Hardie, Nick Hobson, Luke Holt, Josh Inglis, Mitch Marsh, David Payne, Jhye Richardson, Ashton Turner (c)

Ins: Josh Inglis. Outs: -

A timely and terrific boost for the Scorchers as they battle it out for top spot as Josh Inglis returns to the line-up. The Australian wicketkeeper was managed for their last game against the Renegades as part of a Cricket Australia workload management plan ahead of the T20 World Cup, with his inclusion the sole change for the prospective top side.

Melbourne Stars: Hilton Cartwright, Joe Clarke, Tom Curran, Sam Harper, Liam Hatcher, Campbell Kellaway, Blake Macdonald, Glenn Maxwell, Hamish McKenzie, Haris Rauf, Tom Rogers, Peter Siddle, Marcus Stoinis (c), Mitchell Swepson

Ins: Joe Clarke. Outs: Sam Hain (international replacement player)

After a false start of being named and then withdrawn from last week's fixture, Joe Clarke is slated to slot back into the Stars' squad for their last match before finals. Clarke hasn't featured since injuring his hip against the Thunder on December 28, with the international coming in for replacement player Sam Hain.

Club news

Perth Scorchers

Melbourne Stars

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Players to watch

Finn Allen (Scorchers): Fresh off his first Big Bash century, can the big hitting Kiwi go again in front of the Scorchers home fans to help them seal a top-of-the-table finish? Allen has cleared the rope six more times than anyone else this season, with his century against the Renegades on Thursday featuring eight sixes. His season strike rate of 192.6 is also the third highest of any batter to face more than 20 balls in BBL|15.

Peter Siddle (Stars): The veteran quick is showing no signs of slowing down; in fact, he's continuing to bowl faster, defying his 41-year-old body to keep pushing the speed gun above 140kph. Siddle (15 wickets) is one of four Stars paceman to take more than 10 wickets this season alongside Tom Curran (15), Haris Rauf (15) and skipper Marcus Stoinis (14).

Top performers

Most Runs

BBL|15 BKT Golden Bat

Player Total 1 David Warner D Warner 433 2 Sam Harper S Harper 365 3 Matthew Renshaw M Renshaw 324 4 Finn Allen F Allen 312 5 Josh Brown J Brown 305 6 Mitch Marsh M Marsh 299 7 Liam Scott L Scott 292 8 Tim Seifert T Seifert 285

Most Wickets

BBL|15 BKT Golden Arm

Player Total 1 Gurinder Sandhu G Sandhu 18 2 Tom Curran T Curran 15 3 Haris Rauf H Rauf 15 4 Jack Edwards J Edwards 15 5 Peter Siddle P Siddle 15 6 Nathan Ellis N Ellis 14 7 Marcus Stoinis M Stoinis 14 8 Xavier Bartlett X Bartlett 13

Most sixes scored

BBL|15

Player Total 1 Finn Allen F Allen 26 2 Josh Brown J Brown 20 3 David Warner D Warner 20 4 Mitch Marsh M Marsh 18 5 Matthew Renshaw M Renshaw 17 6 Tim Seifert T Seifert 15 7 Ashton Turner A Turner 15 8 Nikhil Chaudhary N Chaudhary 14

Local knowledge

Rapid stats

Perth Scorchers have won their past seven BBL matches against Melbourne Stars; an eighth consecutive win in this game would equal the Scorchers’ longest winning run against a single team in the history of the competition (also won eight v Melbourne Renegades from December 2011 to January 2018).

Melbourne Stars have averaged 2.21 runs per scoring shot collectively in BBL|15, their most in a single season in BBL history; in addition, the Stars’ batting average (32.9) and batting strike rate (143.4) this season are also their best in each category in a single campaign.

Perth Scorchers have scored 66 per cent of their runs from boundaries in BBL|15 season, their best rate in a single season in BBL history and 10 percentage points more than their next best (56 per cent in BBL|10).

Sam Harper (365 in BBL|15) is 35 away from becoming the fifth player to reach 400 runs for Melbourne Stars in a single season in BBL history; although, he’s been dismissed for fewer than five runs in each of his past three innings against the Scorchers in the competition (3, 1, 1).

Cooper Connolly (Perth Scorchers) has scored 195 runs and taken 11 wickets in BBL|15; it’s only the third instance of a Scorchers player recording 100-plus runs and more than 10 wickets in a single season in BBL history after Ashton Agar (133 runs, 18 wickets in BBL|11) and Nathan Coulter-Nile (102 runs, 14 wickets in BBL|08).

What's on the line?

It doesn't get much bigger than this for a regular-season contest: the winner of this Scorchers-Stars clash will leapfrog Hobart Hurricanes and top the BBL|15 regular-season standings, earning home ground advantage and a double-chance in the finals. The winner will also be guaranteed of hosting two home finals.

However, the loser will have a more difficult path to the title, thrust into a third-versus-fourth knockout contest.

KFC BBL|15 standings

Team

Matches played

M

Wins

W

Losses

L

Ties

T

No results

N/R

Net Run Rate

NRR

Deductions

Ded.

Total points

PTS 1 Hobart Hurricanes Men HUR 10 6 3 0 1 0.331 0 13 2 Perth Scorchers Men SCO 9 6 3 0 0 1.319 0 12 3 Melbourne Stars Men STA 9 6 3 0 0 1.031 0 12 4 Sydney Sixers Men SIX 9 5 3 0 1 0.566 0 11 5 Brisbane Heat Men HEA 9 5 4 0 0 -0.375 0 10 6 Adelaide Strikers Men STR 9 3 6 0 0 -0.625 0 6 7 Melbourne Renegades Men REN 9 3 6 0 0 -0.91 0 6 8 Sydney Thunder Men THU 10 2 8 0 0 -1.212 0 4

M: Matches played

W: Wins

L: Losses

T: Ties

N/R: No results

NRR: Net Run Rate

Ded.: Deductions

PTS: Total points

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