The squads for Saturday’s games were confirmed with Perth Scorchers, Brisbane Heat, Melbourne Stars and Melbourne Renegades offering insights into their teams.
SQUAD NEWS
The Perth Scorchers named a 15-man squad for Saturday’s early clash with the Brisbane Heat at Optus Stadium, with Jhye Richardson ruled out for the rest of the season due to injury.
The Scorchers said in a statement: “Richardson will miss the remainder of the KFC BBL|13 season with a left side strain. Scan results, received after Richardson’s media conference this morning, revealed the injury after Richardson pulled up sore following Perth’s loss to Brisbane Heat at the Gabba on Wednesday night.”
Zak Crawley is also out, departing for England duty, with Matt Kelly, Cam Gannon and Sam Fanning coming into their squad.
Scorchers squad: Hardie (c), Agar, Behrendorff, Connolly, Eskinazi, Evans, Fanning, Gannon, Hobson, Inglis, Kelly, McKenzie, Morris, Tye, Whiteman
The Heat named a 14-man squad with Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne both exiting for Test duty, although Matt Renshaw remains. Jack Wildermuth has also been cut loose.
Jordan Buckingham comes into the squad and may play if they opt to rest a bowler, while Josh Brown comes in too.
Colin Munro is in some doubt with a hip issue and he spoke about the injury on Friday. Munro said: “It’s not too bad. Just (being an) old man, I think. It flared up the other day running between wickets. I’ve had a little bit of work done. We’ll try get through today and see what happens tomorrow.”
Heat squad: Munro (c), Bartlett, Billings, Brown, Bryant, Buckingham, Johnson, Kuhnemann, McSweeney, Neser, Peirson, Renshaw, Swepson, Walter
The Melbourne Stars named a 14-man squad to face the Melbourne Renegades at the MCG on Saturday night in the derby, with Jonathon Merlo dropping out. Sam Harper remains unavailable as reported by Honeyball on Thursday.
Stars squad: Maxwell (c), Boland, Cartwright, Coulter-Nile, Handscomb, Imad Wasim, Larkin, Lawrence, Merlo, Paris, Rocchiccioli, Rogers, Steketee, Stoinis, Webster
The Melbourne Renegades named a 16-man squad for the derby, with Akeal Hosein added, along with new Netherlands wicketkeeper-batsman Scott Edwards. Quinton de Kock and Harry Dixon drop out, with the latter headed to the Under-19 World Cup.
It remains to be seen if Edwards play, given Jordan Cox can also wicketkeeper. Gades GM James Rosengarten said: “With the loss of both Joe and Quinton, we needed to add another wicketkeeper to our squad and we think Scott would be able to add real value if required. Jordan Cox is an impressive wicketkeeper too and batted beautifully at Marvel last game against the Hurricanes. He also provides a strong keeping option for us.”
Renegades squad: Cox, Edwards, Finch, Fraser-McGurk, Harvey, Hosein, Kellapotha, Maddinson (c), S.Marsh, O’Neill, Richardson, Rogers, Siddle, Sutherland, Wells, Zampa
