The Melbourne Stars named two big ins for Saturday’s clash with the Sydney Sixers, while Adam Voges discussed potentially rotating Perth Scorchers and Sam Hain gave an update on his fitness.
SQUAD NEWS
The Melbourne Stars added Nathan Coulter-Nile following a calf injury sustained in game 1 along with Scott Boland to their 15-man squad to face the Sydney Sixers to open Round 7 on Saturday at the MCG. Brody Couch drops out.
Stars squad: Maxwell (c), Boland, Cartwright, Coulter-Nile, Harper, Imad Wasim, Larkin, Lawrence, Merlo, Paris, Rocchiccioli, Rogers, Steketee, Stoinis, Webster
Daniel Hughes was added to the Sixers’16-man squad for the game, having missed the past two games after a head knock.
Sixers squad: Abbott, Bird, Curran, Davies, Dwarshuis, Edwards, Henriques (c), Hughes, Kerr, Murphy, O’Keefe, Patterson, Perry, Philippe, Silk, Vince
View our predicted Round 7 line-ups with SuperCoach explanations
UPDATES
The Hobart Hurricanes have a Round 7 double but they’ve also got a squeeze among their batting line-up with Matthew Wade (back) missing last game, while his replacement Sam Hain was Player of the match with a game-winning half-century.
Hain’s return to form could force someone like Nikhil Chaudhary, Caleb Jewell or Mac Wright out of the XI if Wade is fit. However, Hain had his own injury concern in the game, appearing to hurt his hamstring while batting.
Hain told FoxCricket: “We’ll say it (the hamstring concern) is a cramp, but I’ll have to assess it with a physio to see how it pulls up.” On Wade, the Hurricanes said he missed “after a flare of back pain”. He has been managing back spasms and tightness all tournament, with coach Jeff Vaughan offering an update on Wednesday.
Renegades all-rounder Will Sutherland also seemed to be struggling with a calf/hip injury while bowling during Thursday’s game but kept on playing.
Perth Scorchers coach Adam Voges discussed the potential for rotations during their upcoming busy period with four games in nine days, including three on the road. There has been a suggestion that bowlers like Jason Behrendorff, Jhye Richardson, Lance Morris or Andrew Tye could get a game off, especially with Matt Kelly (who didn’t travel to Adelaide) and spinner Hamish McKenzie waiting in the wings.
Voges told 6PR: “There’s no preconceived ideas around that. In a shortened season, it’s only 10 games down from 14, albeit it’s a busy period now, I still think we’ll be putting out the best team for each game. We may get some niggles and some sore bodies and need to make some changes or we get some different conditions which changes the balance of our team. At this stage we don’t plan on resting guys but hopefully we’re able to put out what we think is the best XI during this stretch.”
The Scorchers coach also cooled worries around Cricket Australia limited Lance Morris’ BBL gametime after his 5fa on Wednesday. Voges said: “Lance was brilliant (on Wednesday) night. He bowled beautifully. Took the really key wickets of Chris Lynn and Matt Short, who were threatening to take the game away from us.
“We’re in constant communication with Cricket Australia around Lance’s availability and, at this stage, he’s on the plane with us to Adelaide and we’re expecting him to be available to back up (Friday). Until they tell us otherwise, hopefully we’ll have him in orange a little while longer yet.”
Voges also praised middle-order batsman Laurie Evans. He said: “He’s had a bit of a slow start to the tournament albeit he hasn’t really had much opportunity, but he certainly made the most of what he got last night.”
View our predicted Round 7 line-ups with SuperCoach explanations
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