KFC BBL 12: Perth Scorchers Strengths and Weaknesses

Perth Scorchers Strengths and Weaknesses: The most successful and the champions of the last year’s Big Bash League, Perth Scorchers, is all set to rule the league once again.

And this is not just because of their past performances, but their squad of 2022-23 says it all.

With FAF du Plessis and Josh Inglis at top of the order, Ashton Turner in the middle-order, Cameron Green as an all-rounder, and Andrew Tye, Jason Behrendorff, and Peter Hatzoglou as the T20 specialist bowlers, the Perth Scorchers team looks more than a balanced side.

However, even a flawless thing can have some flaws, and Perth’s star batter Laurie Evans’ exclusion and injury concerns are two of them.

Let’s take a quick look at strengths and Weaknesses of Perth Scorchers and how well they are prepared for the Big Bash League 2022-23 challenge.

Perth Scorchers Strengths

Strong Top Order

Faf du Plessis, who was signed by the team as a replacement for their star player, Laurie Evans, will remain there with the team for the first seven games before the start of CSA T20 in January, is a big boost for the defending champions.

The star opener, who is the former skipper of team South Africa, having led Royal Challengers Bangalore in one of the biggest T20 leagues in the world, IPL in 2022, carrying a lot of T20 experience with him, as he already struck over 8,000 runs in T20 cricket at an impressive average of 35.35 and a strike-rate of 137.47.

Josh Inglis, who will most likely to open the innings for Perth Scorchers this year too, is a busy player and hold the reputation of changing the game towards his team’s side in no time.

Experienced bowling line-up

The presence of international bowlers, Andrew Tye, Jason Behrendorff and Jhye Richardson, is enough to prove the depth of Perth’s bowling line-up, with Peter Hatzoglou availability is a cherry on cake for them.

The young Hatzoglou has performed extremely well in the recently concluded Abu Dhabi T10 league and will try to create the same magic in the Big Bash League too.

Perth Scorchers Weaknesses

Run-rate during middle overs

After facing a setback of Mitchell Marsh’s exclusion, Perth Scorchers are now in doubt of the player, who will accelerate the innings for them during the middle overs of the game. Ashton Turner, no doubt will remain there, and his strike-rate over 142 is also supportive, but his average below 25 in the BBL even after playing 100 games, will put some questions.

New Zealand’s star batter Colin Munro was also there with the team last year, but he is not the part of Perth Scorchers this time.

Finisher

The absence of power-hitter Laurie Evans will hurt Perth Scorchers title defence for the big time. He was a key player for the 4-time champions of BBL, but his exclusion from the squad is a sign of worry for team Perth.

Evans scored 361 runs in 15 matches last year, at an average of 40 and a strike-rate of 144. HE rescued his side many time in previous season, having won the player of the match award during the night of the finals for scoring unbeaten 76 in just 41 deliveries.

However, the presence of 23-year-old Cameron Green, who is the talk of every cricketing town due to his hard-hitting skills, effective bowling and a sound fielding is bit of a fresh air for the defending champions in the 12th edition of the Big Bash League.