CLT20 bite-size preview: Perth Scorchers

They've never made it past the group stage though, but we reckon they'll pull it out of the bright orange hat this time.
<b>Brief Overview:</b> The Scorchers come into the tournament as the Big Bash champions, and this is their third time competing in the CLT20. They've never made it past the group stage though, but we reckon they'll pull it out of the bright orange hat this time.
<b>Key Strength:</b>They have a very strong pack of all-rounders, with Mitchell Marsh in good form with both bat and ball, and Ashton Agar providing the spin power along with his batting. Whether 'all-rounder' means 'average on all fronts' in reality remains to be seen.
<b>Probable Weakness:</b> They don't have Simon Katich, their best scorer in the BBL, and their next best batsman was a club player with no first class caps before the BBL took a punt on him. Shaun Marsh is unavailable due to injury. The top order looks fragile.
<b>Batsman To Watch:</b> We'd like to say club player Craig Simmons, purely for excitement's sake, but it must be Mitchell Marsh, who had a great tri-series in Zimbabwe recently, with some rapid knocks helping them to the final.
<b>Bowler To Watch:</b> Pakistani paceman Yasir Arafat was their BBL star, recording the best figures and bagging 12 wickets. Whether his pace will be rewarded on Indian decks is the question, and also whether he can keep the runs down.
<b>Squad:</b> Ashton Agar, Yasir Arafat, Michael Beer, Cameron Bancroft, Jason Behrendorff, Hilton Cartwright, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Brad Hogg, Simon Mackin, Mitchell Marsh, Joel Paris, Craig Simmons, Ashton Turner, Adam Voges, Sam Whiteman.
<b>Toughest Fixture:</b> The Chennai Super Kings will be a beat of a fixture, as it's later in the tournament and could dictate final four places. It happens on 27 September in Bangalore and CSK are always a tough prospect, even more so when they're under pressure.
<b>They Said:</b> Coach Justin Langer: "Our goal is to go there and win the Champions League. It's the Australian way to look to win every game of cricket we play. The NSW [New South Wales] team won it a few years ago, and that's a good trend to follow. We're massive underdogs, and that's not a bad thing to be for an Aussie."
<b>Cricket365's Prediction:</b> Losing semi-finalists.
Latest
-
News
Darren Stevens ‘looking forward to the ‘next chapter’ as his Kent innings ends
The all-rounder will leave Kent after 17 years at the end of the season.
-
News
Darren Stevens announces his retirement at the age of 46
The all-rounder’s 17-year stint at Kent will end later this year.
-
The Hundred
Hundred history-maker Will Smeed: ‘I very much still want to play everything’
The rising star of the white-ball game could be on England’s radar.
-
The Hundred
Lauren Winfield-Hill stars as Oval Invincibles begin title defence with big win
The home side defeated the Northern Superchargers by nine wickets.
-
News
Sam Curran the main man as Oval Invincibles beat Northern Superchargers
Curran scored 60 in his side’s three-wicket win at the Kia Oval.
-
England
England opener Alex Lees keen to see aggressive approach adopted in county game
The Durham batter has used the break in Test cricket to spread the word.
-
The Hundred
‘It was awesome’ – Will Smeed ends his 90s curse to hit Hundred’s first century
The youngster had fallen short of a maiden century on multiple occasions during the first half of 2022.
-
The Hundred
Will Smeed becomes first batter to hit ton in Hundred during Birmingham win
The opener cracked an unbeaten 101 off 50 balls.
-
England
Women’s game on upward trend and schools an important target – Anya Shrubsole
The 30-year-old pace bowler was restricted to competing against boys during childhood.