BBL Preview | Brisbane Heat and Adelaide Strikers look to put behind sluggish start after Christmas break

Brisbane Heat are set to do battle with Adelaide Strikers at The Gabba in what promises to be a cracking BBL regular season match. This one's a T20 showdown, where every single wicket and run is going to count - expect the Heat to throw everything at the Strikers early on, hoping to get a big start with their strong top order. The Strikers meanwhile will be relying on their openers and middle order batters to get them off to a flying start and then build on that momentum, and don't count out the impact of some all-rounders and accurate bowling in the death overs.

Form Guide

The Heat have been all over the shop lately. We've seen them losing their way in the middle of innings time after time and struggling to catch up - it's only really that one win against the Scorchers that's stood out, the rest of their games have been defeats.

The Strikers aren't faring much better, they've been on a bit of a rollercoaster ride too. They did manage to get the better of the Heat back in January 2025, but that was followed up by losses to the Sixers, Scorchers and Stars, only to then beat the Sixers in December.

Brisbane Heat: L L L W L

Adelaide Strikers: W L L W L

Head-to-Head

Now, historically speaking, Brisbane Heat have held the upper hand when it comes to BBL matches. And in recent years, the teams have gone back and forth in terms of victories - the Strikers did beat the Heat back in January 2025 of course, but the Heat have also come out on top in the head-to-head battle, especially at home. It really is a bit of a 50/50 match-up, and all will depend on who turns up on the day, batters-wise and bowlers-wise.

Brisbane Heat 11-10 Adelaide Strikers

Pitch and Weather

The Gabba is one of those pitches that's going to reward decent bounce. Fast bowlers will be in their element at the start of an innings, but as the game wears on, things become a bit easier for the batters to get going and build a big score in the middle overs.

Brisbane's weather in December is about as you'd expect - warm and fairly humid, and a bit of rain is always a possibility in the evening. If the dew does start to creep in later in the game, the chasing side might find things a bit easier, so the team that wins the toss might just decide to have a think about sending the other lot in.

Team News

Both teams enter the game with strong top-order batters and a group of fast bowlers. For the Heat, the stability of the opening pair and the role of all-round players in the middle of the innings are important. For the Strikers, the key factor is an early start in the Powerplay and control of the pace.

Brisbane Heat (Probable XI): Colin Munro, Jack Wildermuth, Matt Renshaw, Tom Alsop, Max Bryant, Hugh Weibgen, Jimmy Peirson (wk), Xavier Bartlett, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Liam Haskett, Matthew Kuhnemann

Adelaide Strikers (Probable XI): Jason Sangha, Chris Lynn, Liam Scott, Matthew Short, Alex Ross, Jamie Overton, Jerssis Wadia, Harry Nielsen, Hasan Ali, Lloyd Pope, Henry Thornton

Broadcasting Platforms

The match can be viewed via official Big Bash League broadcasts in Australia, such as Foxtel and Kayo Sports. In other countries, rights are distributed by regional broadcasters. Live texts and statistics will be available on ESPNcricinfo and Cricbuzz.