After the other night, when the Victorians somehow lost the unlosable, there will be many who decide not to touch this competition anymore. But after a large win overnight in the match over in Pakistan I'm willing to take the Bushrangers at attractive odds (I think Pakistan will win that series 3-0, but the better play for the second match should be Pakistan = highest opening partnership, they are a team who has refused to subscribe to the concept of a pinch-hitting opener, preferring to keep wickets in hand before slyly boiling over as the innings wears on and the opening stand last night is evidence that the openers are in good touch).
second-versus-third encounter will meet NSW in the final in Sydney on Saturday, with both grand finalists automatically qualifying for the Champions League and a crack at $3 million in prize money. The Bushrangers will be ruing their awful weekend batting performance against NSW in a match which could have automatically qualified them for the final.
The Bulls have won their last 3 T20 matches to finish with a 3-2 record which includes an upset victory over the Bushrangers thanks to an unbeaten 64 from Carseldine. Their last 2 victories have been convincing with a 7 wicket victory over the Redbacks and a thrashing of WA over in Perth. The batting in both those matches was driven by Carseldine and Reardon who made 67 (47) / 74 (45) and 46 (23) / 51 (32) respectively. The Bulls will miss Hopes for this match who is on national duties, but they have not had his services for the last few matches anyhow. They do welcome back Harris who is an important inclusion as he has picked up five T20 wickets this season at 17.6 at a team-high economy rate of 7.33. Qld has posted totals of 161, 166, 162, 164 and 189 respectively, at an average run rate of 8.65. They are a young team who has thrived on a relaxed approach over their last few outings, this will change today as it is likely to be one of the biggest matches in Qld cricket history and the pressure will be on them in front of their home crowd. Their number 3 batsmen, Carseldine will be the key for the Bulls. He tops the competitions batting, stroking 246 at an incredible 123 average and has accumulated many man of the match awards. If the strong Victorian bowling attack can get his wicket cheaply, then the Bulls batting order will be deflated.
Victoria is coming off a very disappointing loss to the Blues. Victoria squandered an impressive bowling effort in restricting NSW to 8-128, by limping to 9-126 in reply. The important statistic in this batting effort is that five of the dismissals were run outs, something which the Victorians can definitely correct before this match. Prior to that, the Victorians thrashed WA at home with the top of the order firing, having posted a total of 183. Once again, Victoria will be without Hussey and White but they still have a great batting line-up including Hodge, Blizzard and Quiney. Victoria has posted totals of 203, 184, 161, 183 and 126 respectively, at an average run rate of 8.62 (or 9.20 without last week's collapse). The Bushrangers have a great bowling attack and will be hoping that Nannes can reproduce the form he showed against the Blues to bowl 4 / 11 at 2.75, and McDonald and Harwood will again be important.
I believe the Victorians will handle the pressure better than the Bulls, and so long as the Victorian bowling can contain Reardon and Carseldine, I believe that their top order will deliver a decent enough total to win.
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