Sydney Sixers captain Moises Henriques has revealed young gun Lachlan Shaw is likely to bat down the order, if he plays at all.
The Sixers played a warm-up game late in the week where Daniel Hughes opened with Babar Azam, with Josh Philippe scoring a quickfire 80 after coming in at first drop.
There had been some hope Shaw might bat no.3 for the Sixers, but that seems unlikely.
Henriques said: “Everyone wants to bat up the order in T20 cricket. It’s been discussed. With Babar now there’s some tight competition for the top of the order.
“When you get a player who can score 360, I personally believe finding strong middle-order batters is much harder. When you get someone like Lachy who can score everywhere, it almost feels wasted at the top of the order.
“The skillset that he has is so unique to how well he plays spin and manipulating the ball. He’s the type of guy you want batting when the game is on the line.”
MORE CLUES ON CANES LINE-UP
Hobart Hurricanes big hitter Ben McDermott has offered further insights into his side’s likely batting order.
McDermott said: “Hopefully that middle order will be pretty solid with Timmy (Tim David) and Wadey (Matthew Wade) sort of coming in and doing that finishing role.
“Whether Timmy comes up the order or whatever, I think we’ll be pretty versatile on how it looks, it’ll be very game dependent.”
WARNER MIGHT NOT OPEN
Thunder captain David Warner has revealed he’s no lock to open the batting with Sam Konstas, with Cam Bancroft an option to be elevated.
Warner told reporters: “That’s more for a match-up and strategic point of view. We don’t have that left-hander in the middle (order) that we’ve been looking for.
“It’s a conversation we’re having at the moment. There might be opportunities where I bat 3, or down in the middle. It just depends.”
TOPLEY SUITED TO THUNDER
Warner also talked up the potential impact of overseas replacement player Reece Topley, who is a tall English left-arm quick.
Warner said: “With the bounce here, he was fantastic. I’ve played against him a fair few times. I’m excited to see what he can bring to the team and environment.
“He’ll suit our home wicket, with his height. Our wicket tends to be low and slow but you can be more effective is a taller bowler.”
HILT TIPS WHITNEY BREAKOUT
Melbourne Stars recruit Tom Whitney has earned praise from teammate Hilton Cartwright who has him billed as a potential breakout star.
Cartwright said Whitney “was bowling like a wizard to me” in the nets. He explained: “He was bowling fast and swinging it, I think I only faced 12 balls but he got me out two or three times.
“If he can do any of that out on the field, he is going to perform really well.”
NO AVAILABILITY CLASH FOR FINN
Scorchers blaster Finn Allen revealed he’ll prioritise BBL over New Zealand duties, despite a mid-January ODI and T20I series against India ahead of the T20 World Cup. The series starts January 11.
“Pending selection, I’ll head straight to India once the Big Bash finishes up for us,” Allen told ESPNcricinfo. “Playing for New Zealand is still, for me, the pinnacle and the reason why I love playing is to represent my country but cricket’s obviously evolving and changing year on year.
“New Zealand Cricket’s been really good to work with over the last wee while. [I’m] confident about getting back into some Black Caps stuff after the Big Bash and hopefully can continue that.”
AGAR ON PARIS ROLE
Scorchers teammate Ashton Agar has backed recruit Joel Paris, articulating his likely role. Agar told reporters: “It’s so good to have him back.
“Experienced guy, who can swing the ball at the top. Good through the middle overs and a good death bowler as well. Experience goes a long way particularly with our attack now. We’re pumped to have him.”
SCORCHERS ADD GLOVEMAN
The Scorchers have added WA wicketkeeper Joel Curtis as a local replacement player for Josh Inglis who’s off with the Test squad.
Curtis has been WA’s most effective white ball batter this season and sits third on the One-Day Cup run-scoring chart with 265 runs at 53 (strike rate 107.28).
Scorchers GM – High Performance Cricket and Elite Teams Kade Harvey said: “Joel can play a few different roles for us, as well, whether up the top of the order or in the middle, so that versatility adds nice depth to the squad.”
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