Brisbane’s stand-in captain Jimmy Peirson admits his side was “strangled” by the Perth Scorchers – but the reinforcements have arrived for the Heat as they look to keep their finals hopes alive at the Gabba.
The Scorchers easily claimed a seven-wicket victory just four days ago, as they got home with more than three overs to spare.
But it’ll be a new-look Heat outfit when the two teams meet again on Wednesday night, as Brisbane are boosted by the returns of Test trio Marnus Labuschagne, captain Usman Khawaja and Matt Renshaw.
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MATCH CENTRE: Heat vs Scorchers teams, scorecard, videos, updates
“It’ll be fantastic having those guys back,” Peirson said. “Three big ins for us.”
The stand-in skipper, who will hand the reins back to Khawaja for the tournament ‘s remainder, said he hoped the Heat could continue their Gabba winning streak alive when they faced Perth once again.
“We want to make our home a place where people come and find it hard to win there,” he said.
“We’re two from two there. I think we can maintain that (win streak). It’ll be a good ol’ fashioned battle.”
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Peirson conceded that last Saturday’s hefty loss to Perth was a blow for the side’s finals hopes, given their previous game against the Sixers ended as a washout.
“This time of year you need to start to get moving. You can’t dawdle … the ladder’s starting to take shape. We have a knack of doing this (winning games late in the season) – we’ve done it before and found our way to the finals. Anything can happen once the finals start.
“If we can just tidy up some things with the ball, I think we’ll be a good competitive side.
“They strangled us a little bit and took wickets (last time they met). The last three games we’ve put together some good competitive totals I feel, we’re not dying wondering.
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“We haven’t put a complete performance together.”
The Scorchers head into Wednesday night’s clash with Ashton Agar returning from his SCG Test duties.
But they still remain without spearhead Jhye Richardson who remains sidelined with his hamstring strain.
The teams will be announced at the toss.
SQUADS
Heat: Xavier Bartlett, James Bazley, Josh Brown, Max Bryant, Spencer Johnson, Usman Khawaja (c), Matt Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan McSweeney, Michael Neser, Jimmy Peirson (wk), Matt Renshaw, Mark Steketee, Mitch Swepson, Ross Whiteley
Scorchers: Ashton Agar, Cam Bancroft, Jason Behrendorff, Cooper Connolly, Stephen Eskinazi, Aaron Hardie, Peter Hatzoglou, Nick Hobson, Josh Inglis (wk), Matt Kelly, Lance Morris, David Payne, Ashton Turner (c), Andrew Tye
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