The squads have been revealed for Saturday’s double-header between the Brisbane Heat-Sydney Thunder and Melbourne Renegades-Melbourne Stars with Test availability revealed.
SQUAD NEWS
The Brisbane Heat named their 14-man squad to host the Sydney Thunder at the Gabba on Saturday.
Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne have been cleared to play following the conclusion of the Ashes series, while Pakistani quick Zaman Khan comes in as well.
Liam Haskett and Jack Wood drop out, having been replacements for the Test pair, while Lachlan Hearne is omitted.
Michael Neser will not play but is expected to return soon. The Heat said: “Will miss the Thunder game as he takes a short break ahead of next week’s BBL games against the Hobart Hurricanes (Jan 14) and Sydney Sixers (Jan 18).”
Brisbane Heat
Ins: Khawaja, Labuschagne, Zaman Khan / Outs: Haskett, Wood, Hearne
Squad: Khawaja (c), Balkin, Bartlett, Bryant, Kuhnemann, Labuschagne, McSweeney, Munro, Patterson, Peirson, Renshaw, Weibgen, Wildermuth, Zaman Khan
The Thunder have selected an unchanged 14-player squad for the Heat game.
Sydney Thunder
No changes
Squad: Warner (c), Agar, Andrews, Bancroft, Billings, Gilkes, Green, Hadley, Konstas, McAndrew, Maddinson, Sams, Sangha, Willey
The Melbourne Renegades made two changes to their 14-player squad to face the Melbourne Stars at Marvel Stadium.
Brendan Doggett returns from the Ashes Test squad to be included alongside Harry Dixon. Ollie Peake is unavailable on Australia duty at the U19 World Cup and Andrew Tye drops out. Adam Zampa (neck) remains unavailable.
Melbourne Renegades
Ins: Dixon, Doggett / Outs: Peake (Aus U19s), Tye
Sutherland (c), Behrendorff, Brown, Dixon, Doggett, Elliott, F-McGurk, Hassan Khan, Jewell, Muhammad Rizwan, Sandhu, Seifert, Spoors, Stow
The Stars added Tom Curran following hip soreness to their 14-player squad, with Jono Merlo making way and Joe Clarke still absent.
Stars coach Peter Moores said: “Tom has had a great tournament. He’s bowled beautifully up front. He’s got the ball moving. He’s got good skills through the middle and the end. Joe Clarke, the last innings he played for us he played beautifully. They’re both close. If they’ll be fit for Saturday, we’ll find out.”
Melbourne Stars
Ins: Curran / Outs: Merlo
Squad: Stoinis (c), Cartwright, Curran, Hain, Haris Rauf, Harper, Hatcher, Kellaway, Macdonald, McKenzie, Maxwell, Rogers, Siddle, Swepson
UPDATES
The Perth Scorchers flew to Adelaide on Friday, with Joel Paris (groin) and Ashton Agar (calf) both not on the flight. Mitch Marsh travelled despite being limited in the field last game with a finger concern.
There was a new face on the plane, with Willetton spinner Luke Holt joining the squad and set to be signed as a local replacement player following Agar’s injury.
