Back Mitchell Marsh to rediscover form in crunch game

Here are our fantasy picks for the game between Sydney Thunder and Perth Scorchers (5:44)

January 26: Sydney Thunder v Perth Scorchers at Sydney

Our XI: Alex Hales, Liam Livingstone, Josh Inglis, Callum Ferguson, Alex Ross, Mitchell Marsh, Chris Morris, Ashton Agar, Daniel Sams, Matthew Kelly, Fawad Ahmed

NOTE: We might not always be able to tip you off about a late injury (or other relevant) updates.

Captain: Liam Livingstone

With scores of 78 and 79 in his last two innings, Livingstone is probably the most in-form batsman coming into this game. He has often combined with Josh Inglis to provide good starts for Scorchers.

Vice-captain: Alex Hales

Hales’ season was up and down at the very start, but he has turned extremely consistent over the second half. He has three fifties in his last five innings, two of them in the last two. A good shout for captaincy as well.

Hot picks

Daniel Sams

Another good shout for captaincy. It is impossible not to have Sams in your squad. He has 24 wickets this season and in all likelihood will finish as the top wicket-taker at the end of the league stage. He bagged a four-for in his last match.

Josh Inglis

Livingstone’s partner up front and one of the most valuable players for Scorchers this season. He has enhanced his reputation as opener and is a good wicketkeeper to boot. Comes cheap too.

Mitchell Marsh

Marsh has gone cold over the last few batting innings, but with a top-four spot on the line, the Scorchers captain will be determined to make his innings important.

Value picks

Matthew Kelly

Took his time getting into rhythm at the start, but Kelly has become indispensable to the Scorchers bowling attack. In his last three matches, Kelly has not conceded more than 27 runs when he’s completed his four overs. He also has five wickets in that period.

Alex Ross

At this point, it is not wrong to say that Ross is the only functioning component in the Thunder middle order. Ross has been moved up and down the order between Nos. 4 and 7, and has invariably made runs as several batting experiments have failed around him. He has scores of 32*, 51, 22* and 36 in his last four innings.

Point to note

Chris Jordan is leaving Scorchers for national duty and will be replaced by Morne Morkel. If you want to beef up your bowling, that is a choice. His leaving also means Ashton Agar might get more batting duties.