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Rico Abreu Wednesday Winner Interview

Two-time Chili Bowl Nationals winner Rico Abreu took care of business Wednesday night by winning his qualifying feature. He is now locked into Saturday’s A-Main, where he’ll be making his seventh consecutive start in the feature.

After the celebration, he spoke to Ralph Sheheen about facial hair, among other things…

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Toyota Racing Development has won five consecutive Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals features. Thanks to Mobil 1, SPEED SPORT is providing exclusive coverage of the multi-car organization, led by three-time winner and current champ Christopher Bell and two-time Chili Bowl winner Rico Abreu, and other Toyota-equipped organizations and drivers as they prepare for and compete in the Chili Bowl. The Mobil 1 Road To The Driller program is in addition to SPEED SPORT and Sprint Car & Midget’s traditional “Live from the Chili Bowl presented by MyRacePass” coverage that surrounds the event.

Liverpool have become the Golden State Warriors, winning every game they play, breaking a new record with each match, pushing so far ahead of the competition that they're skewing our perception of the other 19 teams in the league. In most other years, Manchester City would be in the midst of a title race, but they're still capable of the kind of controlled, systematic destruction that has bulldozed the Premier League in each of the past two seasons. Just ask Aston Villa or, perhaps, the betting market, which considers Pep Guardiola's team as the favorites to win the Champions League.

But enough words have been (and will be) spilled about these two teams. Guilty as charged. So, for those of you who have had it up to here with gegenpressing and juego de posicion, let's take a look at some of the underappreciated stars from the 2019-20 Premier League season.

We'll take one from each phase of the game. In other words: Who's having a career year but won't come close to winning any silverware?

Keeper: Vicente Guaita, Crystal Palace

The best Spanish keeper in the Premier League isn't named David de Gea, and he's certainly not called Kepa Arrizabalaga. No, he's a 33-year-old with peroxide-blonde hair who occasionally only answers to one word: Guaita. In fact, the Crystal Palace man hasn't just been the best Spanish keeper in the league this season; he's been the best keeper, period.

According to TruMedia data, Guaita has prevented more than seven goals so far this year. Based on their expected goals on target model, which takes into account the location of a shot and then where the shot was placed on the goal frame, you'd expect the average keeper to concede 26.08 goals. Guaita has only allowed 19 (in addition to one own goal). This is what that shot-saving profile looks like: green dots are goals, and the larger dots are higher-value xG opportunities:

Despite missing two games, Guaita is the only keeper in the league to save more than seven goals. He's also the only keeper to save more than six. The rest of the top five: Newcastle's Martin Dubravka (5.51 goals prevented), Watford's Ben Foster (5.45), Sheffield United's Dean Henderson (3.81), and Brighton's Mathew Ryan (3.58). The bottom five? Southampton's Angus Gunn (minus-7.39 in just 10 games!), Burnley's Nick Pope (minus-7.09), Chelsea's Kepa (minus-5.45), Aston Villa's Tom Heaton (minus-5.03), and Tottenham's Paulo Gazzaniga (minus-3.52).

In the 20 games with Guaita in goal, Crystal Palace have allowed one goal per match. In each of the games he missed, they conceded twice. For a team that's scored the joint-fewest goals in the league, Guaita has basically been the difference between a relegation fight and a comfy spot in mid-table.

Defense: Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Manchester United

Think Trent Alexander-Arnold, but the exact opposite. The Liverpool right back has revolutionized the fullback position by saying, "Sure, but what If I were Andrea Pirlo?" Meanwhile, AWB has interpreted the role in his own unique way: "What if I was a defender whose main skill was... defending?"

There are all of TAA's tackles on the season:

And these are all of AWB's:

The Manchester United right back is soccer's version of Kawhi Leonard; if you try to dribble the ball in his general vicinity, he's gonna take it from you.

Per the website FBRef, there are 10 players in the Premier League who have faced at least 100 dribbles so far this season. Wan-Bissaka has completed a tackle on 78.3% of the attempts against him. Among those other nine, next best is Leicester's Ricardo Pereira, all the way down at 67.6%. Put another way, the 22-year-old has the 10th-highest tackle rate in the league against opposing dribblers. But no-one above him has faced more than 40 dribbles; Wan-Bissaka has faced 106.

Despite United's uninspiring first 22 games, their defense is actually doing just fine. Per FBRef, they've allowed the fewest expected goals in the league (20.7) and the arrival of Wan-Bissaka over the summer is one of the biggest reasons why.

Want your kid to be a mold-breaking fullback? Better hyphenate his last name.

Midfield: Oliver Norwood, Sheffield United

If you're in the business of predicting the performance of promoted teams, there aren't many better places to look than defense. Per research from the consultancy 21st Club, the teams that tend to stay up are the ones that conceded the fewest goals in the Championship. Although they were the bookmakers' favorites to be relegated right back down, Sheffield United conceded fewer goals than both Norwich and Aston Villa last season. Sure enough, Chris Wilder's team currently sit in sixth place, while the other two promoted sides are both in the relegation places. Only Liverpool have conceded fewer goals.

However, the trademark of Sheffield's season so far is how cohesive they seem to be. The attack and the defense are always connected; remember those overlapping center-backs from earlier in the season? But none of that coherence would be possible without someone to tie it all together.

It's Oliver Norwood's first season in the Premier League, but you wouldn't know it from watching. Per FBRef, only Jorginho has completed more passes (147 to 145) into the final third than the 28-year-old. Alexander-Arnold and Southampton's Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg are the only other players to complete at least 100 passes into the final third and 20 into the penalty area. And Alexander-Arnold and Wolverhampton's Joao Moutinho are the only other players with at least 100 final-third passes and three expected assists. In other words, no-one in the league is more important to every aspect of his team's build-up play than the Northern Irishman. Can you believe he cost less than 2 million to buy from Brighton?

I doubt many people were asking the question "how good can your team be if it's completely built around Oliver Norwood?" at the beginning of the season, but it turns out the answer might be "somewhere in the top six."

Attacking Midfield: Emiliano Buendia, Norwich City

If I told you there was a former Real Madrid prospect and Argentine youth international who was rivaling the playmaking of Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva in the Premier League, you'd probably assume that he played for some super-wealthy team or, maybe, you'd try to obtain a copy of James Maddison's birth certificate to see what you were missing. And if I told you that this seemingly hypothetical player was just 23 years old, you'd probably assume that his name was populating every other transfer-rumor roundup, with close-to-nine-figure fees being attached to his name.

Well, this person exists, but he plays for the worst team in the Premier League, and the market doesn't seem to think of him so highly. The crowd-sourced valuations at the website Transfermarkt peg Emi Buendia's value at €18 million, while the transfer algorithm from the CIES football observatory sees it as somewhere between €20-30 million.

Although he might cost less than recent summer signings like Pablo Fornals, Ayoze Perez, or Nicolas Pepe, he's significantly outperformed all of them this season. Really, there aren't many creative midfielders who have been as influential as Buendia.

Pick a passing stat, and Buendia is right near the top of the leaderboard. Among players who have played at least half of their team's minutes, only De Bruyne and Brighton's Pascal Gross have created more chances for their teammates per 90 minutes. Only De Bruyne, Riyad Mahrez, and Alexander-Arnold have created more expected assists per 90 minutes. Only De Bruyne, Mahrez, Silva, and Maddison have completed more through balls per 90 minutes. And only De Bruyne, Mahrez, Silva and Alexander-Arnold have completed more passes into the penalty area per 90 minutes. On top of all that, he's completed 31 more passes into the final third than any of his teammates and he's leading the Canaries in tackles, too. Buendia still hasn't scored this season, but if you need someone to do all of the stuff before the goal, then he's your guy.

While Norwich have a better expected-goal differential than Aston Villa, Newcastle, West Ham, and Bournemouth, they're rock-bottom of the table with the worst goal differential and an eight-point gap between themselves and safety. So, although they've been unlucky, they're probably going back down to the Championship. And if they do, Buendia seems likely to move on. He'll be a steal for whoever signs him.

Striker: Danny Ings, Southampton

You know what? I'll just come out and say it: Daniel William John Ings -- formerly of Bournemouth and Burnley and Liverpool, now of Southampton -- has been, in his 28th year on this planet, the best goal-scorer in the Premier League.

Sure, Jamie Vardy is currently leading the league with 17 goals, but three of them came from the penalty spot. Take those away and he's tied atop the league in non-penalty goals with Ings. Except Vardy's played nearly 300 more minutes. Sergio Aguero is leading the league in non-penalty goals per 90 minutes because Sergio Aguero always leads the league in non-penalty goals per 90 minutes, but he's only -- only -- scored 11 non-penalty goals. After Aguero (0.99), it's Ings (0.82) and Gabriel Jesus (0.74), with Vardy and Tammy Abraham tied on 0.7.

The best part? Barring injury, Ings's high-level production seems like it should be sustainable since his shot map looks like this:

The guy just doesn't take bad shots. Almost everything is within the width of the six-yard box and from no farther out than the penalty spot.

Ings is tied with Jesus atop the league in non-penalty expected goals (10.5), and only Aguero and Jesus are edging him in non-penalty xG per 90. He's taking the eighth-most shots per 90 minutes -- behind Abraham, Raul Jimenez and a bunch of Liverpool and City guys -- and among players who have attempted at least 20 shots, only Vardy and Sadio Mane are averaging a higher xG per shot.

Ings is not playing for a super-team, but he's doing the one thing every world-class striker is supposed to do: take a ton of great shots. If he keeps this up, he should absolutely be in the England picture for this summer's Euros. Hell, if he keeps this up, he has a legitimate case that he should start.

Welcome to ESPNcricinfo's live updates on the Port Elizabeth Test. We've also got traditional ball-by-ball, too. If the blog doesn't load for you straight away, please refresh your page.

Annabel Sutherland knows as well as anyone that outward displays of emotion have never come too easily to her father. And for 17 years as Cricket Australia's chief executive, James Sutherland wisely thought it best to maintain plenty of reserve in his frequent public appearances to discuss the game and, more often than not, its various ills.

However, the news that Annabel had been chosen, to a degree from left field, for Australia's T20 World Cup squad, brought a rush of happiness and realisation to James that had him shedding tears of joy, to an extent that even his wife Heidi had never witnessed before.

"They were actually playing golf at the time so mum eventually rang back after I'd called her a couple of times - you're not exactly meant to have your phone on the golf course - but I broke the news and they were really, really excited for me," Annabel Sutherland said. "We're a pretty sporty family so we're all really supportive of each other and want each other to do well. They were proud. Mum did tell me she reckons Dad had a bit of a tear, I'm not sure how much truth there is to that, but just really proud and excited for me."

ALSO READ: 'Pressure is defending your home from bushfires' - Australia's perspective on World Cup challenge

Speaking to ESPNcricinfo, James Sutherland's recollection of last Friday's revelation was not too dissimilar, as a somewhat terse exchange interrupting the tranquility of a morning round of golf quickly changed to something very different indeed.

"I can recall Heidi saying to Annabel 'I've got to be quick because you're not meant to speak on the golf course, this better be important', and then Annabel told her and Heidi nearly dropped the phone," he said. "Then she told me and it certainly stopped me in my tracks, let's put it that way.

"When I became CEO she hadn't even been born, Heidi was pregnant with Annabel in 2001 and we had that conversation about 'we're about to have our second child and how's it going to be with the job'. So 17 years in the job and 18 years later she gets picked for Australia, so her life has been very much exposed to cricket through what I've been doing and the family's involvement in the game, her two brothers both play and they're incredibly supportive of each other.

"Over the years I've seen the pride that parents have for their kids going on to play for Australia, and it's certainly a reality hit when it's your own. We're all still pinching ourselves, incredibly proud of her, and continually proud at the way she's been able to step up and take her opportunities."

There was more to this, of course, than the tears of a proud father for his daughter. More, perhaps, than even Annabel had known. For it was through her love of cricket and interest in playing it that James, as CA's chief executive, was thrust down from the high vantage point of a leading administrator to the far humbler one of a parent trying to find opportunities for his child to play the game, when her older and younger brothers, Will and Tom, could do so far more readily.

"I felt I was a great proponent of the trial integration of CA with Women's Cricket Australia and very supportive I felt of the women's game, but I actually didn't realise how difficult it is for girls to play the game until I had a daughter who loved the game and wanted to play it," he said. "A place for them to play, an environment where they're coached as individuals rather than just amongst a boys' team.

"The better girls' players of today have largely grown up in an environment where they had to be very courageous to play cricket, because they grew up in an environment where they were often playing in a boys' team. That's great, good on them, but it's not an environment where you're going to grow female participation in a really significant, exponential way.

"I did get my driver's licence at the end of last year, which has given me a little bit more freedom. I think mum's relieved, a few less hours in the car" Annabel Sutherland

"We're making inroads, but if you want to play in a girls' team, where's the nearest team? Oh, it's over the other side of town, so you've got to be affirmative, but it should be easier, it should be the ground next door. My passion for growing cricket as a sport for women and girls is not about Annabel, but it's through her and our experiences as a family to understand that I've seen barriers to entry are a lot higher than I thought they were."

At the same time, Annabel found herself learning the game in the Sutherland family backyard alongside Will and Tom, honing all-round skills in large part because her elder brother enjoyed batting for as long as possible. "It's always been me bowling more than I get a hit, because Will's a bit of a backyard bully," she said, laughing. "But that's the role of an older brother, keep the younger siblings in check. We're just super competitive and I remember bowling as fast and hard as I can because I just wanted a hit. It was probably the same for Will and Tom."

The gift that Annabel's love for cricket provided the wider game was a fully engaged CA chief executive when the time came for major participation drives, better pay and conditions for the women's national team, and ultimately the professionalisation of the game in Australia, where all state and WBBL contracted players can earn a living wage to play.

"The opportunities within the pathway that have opened up over the last few years, she's very fortunate to have come through at a time where that happened," James Sutherland said. "People like Pat Howard will probably never get the credit he deserves for that, but he was absolute in trying to find ways for equal opportunity for girls in the game through that pathway and was ahead of his time in understanding how the professionalism of the game was going. But that also only takes you to a place that's even more respectful of previous generations of women and how difficult it was for them - some are still part of the Australian team today who had it tough trying to do part-time, jobs, part-time study and manage it all."

There is a slight irony here in that Annabel feels her own cricket has benefited from running parallel with her Year 12 studies in 2019, and university study of science at Melbourne University in 2020 and beyond. But the fact that she and so many others now have so many more options is a major reason for why Australia's selectors have been blessed with such a raft of talent to choose from.

"I'm planning to do uni still, part-time," Annabel said. "I find it really important to have something else, so I've had school for the last few years and I think I'll continue to try to have something on the sidelines just ticking along that'll go hand in hand with my cricket. I'd just be keen to keep ticking off subjects hopefully and get a couple done this semester.

"I did get my driver's licence at the end of last year, which has given me a little bit more freedom. I think mum's relieved, a few less hours in the car. And finishing Year 12 was exciting, I didn't go on schoolies, but I heard the updates from a few of my friends - we had Big Bash through that period so it's been a busy few months."

Following sturdy WBBL displays, Annabel appeared to rise to another level in recent WNCL matches for Victoria, helping the selectors make what is, by the coach Matthew Mott's admission, a calculated gamble. In this the team's decision-makers are taking the sort of leap they once did by ushering the likes of Alyssa Healy, Meg Lanning and Ellyse Perry into the squad at a comparatively young age, but now with the knowledge that a fully professional system means the jump is nowhere near as dramatic.

"That's something that certainly as a selection group we've spoken a lot about, if we're asking the players to be fearless and take the game on, in our selection we've got to reflect that as well," Mott said. "That's where the Annabel Sutherland selection is, the stats don't necessarily say that she's blown the competition away, but it's a selection where we see her being a part of this team for a very long time, it's a great opportunity to get her in and amongst this group."

And should Annabel find herself turning out for the national team in a tournament her father still has a hand in helming - he remains a part of the cup's local organising committee - there may well be a few more of those tears of pride, now he has a little more latitude to shed them. "It's a lot more enjoyable to be on the outskirts looking in," he said. "It's a good feeling on that front for all of us."

HOUSTON -- Coach Mike D'Antoni started to make an excuse for the Houston Rockets' recent struggles and then stopped in the middle of a sentence, saying he couldn't do it with a straight face.

The Rockets have dropped three of their past four games after a 117-107 loss on Wednesday to the Portland Trail Blazers at the Toyota Center.

D'Antoni acknowledged that the "collective spirit" of the Rockets, who consider themselves contenders, was off.

"No, it's a concern. But to me, the focus is not on getting it right," D'Antoni said. "The focus is more on looking at the back of the jersey instead of the front. We just need to get over it, and we will.

"Every ship gets rocked sometimes. We're getting rocked right now. Two weeks ago, if you would have asked, we were in a great place team-wise. It's that delicate of a thing. You've got to be careful, and right now, we're shaky; but we have veterans that will right the ship up."

D'Antoni took more than 20 minutes from the final buzzer to begin his postgame news conference, the longest wait this season, in part because of a lengthy discussion of the team's issues in the locker room. Rockets star James Harden described the session as an opportunity for players to express their emotions and concerns.

"Everybody's their own person and feels some type of way about whatever's going on, individually and as a unit," said Harden, who was held to a season-low 13 points on 3-of-12 shooting by the Trail Blazers, who double-teamed the NBA's scoring leader on a regular basis. "So you speak about it and get it off your chest."

The Rockets' rut over the past week -- which included double-digit losses to the Oklahoma City Thunder, Memphis Grizzlies and Trail Blazers -- has dropped Houston to fifth in the Western Conference standings.

Harden summed up the solution in two words: "Play harder," which was echoed by his co-star, Russell Westbrook.

"Simple as that: Play hard," said Westbrook, who had 31 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists in the loss and was the only Houston player with a positive plus-minus. "Everything else will fall in line. Enough talent, enough experience, know how to play the game. Just got to play hard every single night."

One excuse that D'Antoni made was that some key Rockets were dealing with physical issues. Center Clint Capela has a nagging heel contusion that has caused him to miss three of the past nine games. Sixth man Eric Gordon is working his way back into shape after missing six weeks following knee surgery. Power forward PJ Tucker suffered a stinger in his right shoulder in Saturday's home win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

"That's an excuse, but that doesn't work," D'Antoni said. "We've just got to get back. Right now, it's a rough spot. We had rough spots last year, we had rough spots the year before, you always have rough spots."

The Rockets responded to a rough spot at the beginning of last season by getting rid of Carmelo Anthony, who was exiled when Houston had a 4-6 record and eventually traded to the Chicago Bulls along with cash in a salary-dump deal. Anthony didn't get another opportunity to play in the NBA until Portland signed him in mid-November, but he insisted that he had no extra emotions about facing the Rockets for the first time since his awkward dismissal.

"I kind of got past all of that, the time that I was off," said Anthony, who had 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting and 12 rebounds in the Blazers' win. "The time that I did have to kind of think about that situation, and I've done dealt with every emotion that you could think about. Trying to figure out why. Questioning myself at the beginning. Working so hard to get past that and kind of be at peace with that."

The Rockets now are trying to figure out how to get through their rough patch. The schedule won't do them any favors, with the West-leading Los Angeles Lakers, Thunder and Denver Nuggets coming to town for the remainder of Houston's homestand.

"It doesn't get any easier for us," said Harden, who has had his two lowest-scoring outings of the season over the past four games. "We've got some tough opponents coming up, and we've got to figure our way through it. We will. We will. I think everyone goes through the tough times throughout the course of the year. For us, this is now."

Westbrook agreed.

"The real measurement of a man is where you stand in adversity. So we'll see," he said. "I live for things like this, and I know the guys in the locker room are feeling the same way. We've just got to stay with it."

PHILADELPHIA -- Kyrie Irving said "it's glaring" that the Brooklyn Nets have more work to do in order for their roster to reach the level necessary for championship contention.

"I mean, it's transparent. It's out there. It's glaring, in terms of the pieces that we need in order to be at that next level," Irving said after finishing with 14 points on 6-for-21 shooting in Brooklyn's 117-106 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday at Wells Fargo Center. "I'm going to continue to reiterate it. We're going to do the best with the guys that we have in our locker room now, and we'll worry about all the other stuff, in terms of moving pieces and everything else, as an organization down the line in the summer.

"It's just something that we signed up for. We knew what we were coming into at the beginning of this season. Guys were going down left and right. [Garrett Temple] is out, [DeAndre Jordan] just got hurt tonight, Wilson [Chandler] is coming back. We've got complimentary young guys as well that have done a great job the last three years.

"Collectively, I feel like we have great pieces, but it's pretty glaring we need one more piece or two more pieces that will compliment myself, [Kevin Durant], DJ, GT, Spence [Dinwiddie], Caris [LeVert], and we'll see how that evolves."

Irving played in his third game since coming back from a 26-game absence due to a left shoulder impingement, an injury that sidelined him from mid-November until this past Sunday, when he went 10-for-11 from the field and scored 21 points in a blowout win over the Atlanta Hawks at home.

After following that performance with another strong outing Tuesday at home against the Utah Jazz, scoring 32 points on 12-for-19 shooting, things came back to earth for Irving in a hurry against Philadelphia. Not only was he 6-for-21 for the game, but he was also 1-for-7 in the fourth quarter, and he finished the game with a plus-minus of minus-29 in just under 37 minutes.

No one else on the Nets was worse than minus-10. Brooklyn was outscored by 20 points in the 10 minutes, 28 seconds that Irving played in the fourth quarter.

"Like I said the other day, if I wasn't up for playing any amount of minutes, I wouldn't be out there," Irving said. "It's the NBA, at the end of the day, and you do your best to prepare for back-to-backs. They're always going to be difficult, no matter what. Like I said, I just try to pace myself throughout the game.

"And the fourth quarter, certain shots I usually make at the rim, they were just a little short tonight. You have to live with those results. And a lot of my teammates picked me up. Spence did a good job continuing to attack. [Jarrett Allen] played well. I felt like we could've got some more swing-swing action or some second-side action. They did a great job loading up, so you got to give them credit, but I feel like my teammates had my back as well."

Although Dinwiddie finished with 26 points on 8-for-16 shooting, 8 assists and 2 turnovers, he and Irving combined to go 2-for-13 from the field in the fourth. Philadelphia, meanwhile, got 11 points from Tobias Harris and seven from Al Horford, Irving's teammate with the Celtics the past three years. Horford was the one who swallowed up Irving's repeated forays into the paint in the fourth quarter, resulting in his tossing up one layup that went wanting after another.

Brooklyn's fourth-quarter struggles are nothing new, however. The Nets entered Wednesday with the worst fourth-quarter net rating (-9.3 points per 100 possessions) in the NBA before being outscored 31-16 by the Sixers.

"It's kind of been an issue for us all year, not being able to score in the fourth quarter efficiently," Nets coach Kenny Atkinson said. "It kind of follows a trend. I thought we played pretty well for three quarters, we were in the game and then struggled to score at the end. I'll have to go through and look at the quality of the shots. I thought we had a ton of good looks. We were, I think, under 50% at the rim ... we just weren't finishing.

"Like every game, a lot of different things."

Atkinson spoke before the game about the benefits of having Irving, Dinwiddie and LeVert on the court together. He also admitted that it would take time for them to learn to play with one another. Atkinson tried to go with that group in the fourth quarter, before quickly going away from it, and he later admitted that they struggled.

"It wasn't jelling," Atkinson said. "I have to admit that. ... We're just going to have to find what that combination looks like. I think it'll be game-to-game. It's a feel.

"I thought they were good the night before. Tonight it wasn't perfect. That's something we have to look at the next two days."

It will take far more than the next two days, however, for the Nets to get their full roster on the court. Durant, of course, isn't expected to be back this season after undergoing surgery to repair a torn Achilles tendon last summer before signing with Brooklyn. Jordan, who came to Brooklyn with Irving and Durant last summer, dislocated his right middle finger Wednesday, and Atkinson said after the game that he would have it examined Thursday. Jordan left with a wrap over his right, middle and ring fingers and without talking to reporters. Temple -- whom Irving also recruited to Brooklyn last summer -- sat out for the second time in three games due to a right knee contusion.

Wednesday's loss saw the Nets fall to 18-22 on the season, with Saturday's game in Brooklyn against the league-leading Milwaukee Bucks marking the halfway point of the regular season. After he expressed his views on the roster, Irving was asked what his goals are for the remaining months of the season.

"Just be healthy," he said after the Nets fell to 5-9 in the 14 games he has played this season. "Be as healthy as possible. You never know what can happen as the season progresses, and we've just got to take every day as an opportunity to lead these guys and do what you can.

"It's glaring that you're missing a big piece here. We all know that. But we can't continue to make that excuse. We've got to go out there and compete and continue to lock in and see where we end up."

January 16: Sydney Sixers v Hobart Hurricanes in Sydney

Our XI: Josh Phillippe, Daniel Hughes, Matthew Wade, Moises Henriques, Caleb Jewell, George Bailey, Ben Dwarshuis, Clive Rose, Qais Ahmad, Tom Curran, Lloyd Pope

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

Captain: Tom Curran

Who better to pick from the Sixers than Curran, who has not only been among the wickets, as he's expected to but also made crucial runs. In the last game at this venue, Curran starred in both disciplines in a thrilling Super Over finish. At the halfway stage of this BBL, Curran's Smart Stats were very impressive. So although his conventional economy rate might look high at 9.86 (which is also due to a bad outing in one game), he has been making key breakthroughs. When a player does well on Smart Stats, you can generally expect conventional results to follow soon enough too.

Vice-captain: Matthew Wade

If your captain is from the Sixers, your vice-captain has to be from the Hurricanes. That's Fantasy Cricket 101 to mitigate risks. Wade was in good form in Australia's home summer, and though this is a different format, he has shown the same spunkiness in the BBL too. Moreover, he's a multi-skilled top-order batsman, in that he keeps wickets and bats at the top of the order - which puts him in prime position to net you a bagful of points.

Hot picks

Josh Phillippe: He has been a bit up and down with his form, but the thing with Phillippe is, when he gets going, he is going to take the game away from the opposition. He is still the Sixers' leading run-scorer by a distance, which shows he hasn't had many failures, even though he has crossed 50 just twice in nine innings.

Qais Ahmad: Ahmad's legbreaks in the middle overs have been invaluable for the Hurricanes, which is reflected in his being the team's highest wicket-taker. He might have been a tad expensive on occasions, but he gets wickets almost every game.

Daniel Hughes: He has reached the double figures in his last six innings so far without going past 40, which might make Hughes a steady, rather than a 'hot' pick. But given that he bats at the top of the order, and he is clearly not struggling for form, it's a relatively safe punt that this will be the innings he'll go big in.

Value picks

Ben Dwarshuis: He has made most of his impact as a bowler, but Dwarshuis showed some batting chops in his last outing, smashing a 17-ball 42* against table-toppers Melbourne Stars. That wouldn't have counted for too much if he wasn't also performing in his primary role, and he has done that with ten wickets, the joint third-most for the Sixers.

Lloyd Pope: Legspinners and T20 games have been a happy marriage for a while now, across venues and countries. Pope has done his bit to further that cause this BBL, picking up ten wickets in eight games. He has practically been among the wickets in every game, and when he's not, he has been economical. The joint third-highest wicket-taker for the Sixers and has the best economy rate too, given a minimum of ten overs bowled.

Point to note

There have been three matches at the SCG this BBL, and on the basis of that limited sample size, it has been a venue that hasn't tilted massively towards either batting or bowling. There was one moment of Chris Lynn-sanity when the Brisbane Heat captain smashed 94 off 35, which was the only innings where the team score crossed 170. Phillippe kicked things off with his 81* off 44 against Perth Scorchers. Overall, seam bowlers who can vary their pace have had it good at the SCG, as have the craftier spinners.

Adam Voges had no idea what day it was.

The Perth Scorchers coach knew he was in Perth. It was Wednesday, a game day against the Melbourne Stars. But just one game in the midst of a brutal travel and playing schedule.

The Scorchers are in the middle of five games in 10 days, including two return trips across the country to Hobart and Melbourne, having already made two of longest trips in the BBL, to the Gold Coast and Geelong, in the first seven days of the new year with a home game in between.

Perth is the furthest outpost in the BBL, a three-hour flight from their nearest rivals Adelaide, and they do not play consecutive games either at home or on the road until the final week of the season.

After a three-game winning streak, the heavy defeat against the Melbourne Stars should come as no surprise. The Stars flew to Perth on Monday two days out from the match, on the same day the Scorchers beat the Hobart Hurricanes in Hobart. The Scorchers then endured a four-hour flight delay in Melbourne prior to the second flight on their trip home on Tuesday ahead of the game on Wednesday. The Scorchers then have to front up again at the airport on Friday to travel to play the Stars in Melbourne on Saturday before flying home to host the Sydney Thunder on Monday.

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Voges said the playing group have just endured as best they can. "Winning helps," he told ESPNcricinfo ahead of the Wednesday's game against the Stars. "The boys have been playing some really good cricket which I think has taken away a little bit of the schedule. We spoke about it at the start of the tournament that particularly this period was going to be tough. We tried to plan as best we could around recovery and the flights and that sort of stuff just to make sure it was as smooth as possible.

"We couldn't, unfortunately, plan for flight delays. The guys to their credit have been brilliant, they've just got on with it even though we got stuck a bit yesterday but they just got on with it really well. It's been difficult. We're tired no doubt, but the boys have been excellent."

The Scorchers have been reluctant to be critical of the schedule, as difficult as it has been. Requests for particular home fixtures in Perth, such as Boxing Day against the Sydney Sixers, as well as the new condensed season has played its part. They knew of their predicament well in advance and planned accordingly.

"We've got massages after most flights," Voges said. "We give the boys game days, that's theirs. If they want to sleep all day before the game that's really up to them. We try and get out for a walk and a stretch after every flight and have massages for the boys and we just focus really heavily on recovery after games particularly in this heavy period.

"It builds resilience as much as anything. The confidence that comes with some good performances, there's no doubt that that's certainly helping. It's a credit to all the players and all the staff who have spent a lot of time trying to get this right. We had three staff members at the airport yesterday with a van ready to take the kits to Perth Stadium just to make sure it's all ready for them when they rock up today. Just the little things like that we've done really well. But the resilience in the group to get up and perform the way we have has been great."

There has been no chance to train during this stretch, something that the coach thinks might be helping.

"Maybe that's a blessing in one way," Voges said. "We've literally just had to prepare ourselves to get up for 40 overs. We have a day off tomorrow and that will be a full day off before we jump on the plane again. Time to get some skill work hasn't really happened. The boys have a bit of a hit before each game. I guess their mental approach has been really important in getting themselves up for each game."

But the travel has taken its toll on a group already hit hard by injuries and absences. Ashton Turner and Ashton Agar are both away with the Australian ODI squad, while Jason Behrendorff and AJ Tye have been unavailable all year through injury. Sam Whiteman was withdrawn prior to Wednesday's clash after his second child was born much earlier than expected. Kurtis Patterson's ongoing quad issues meant Perth had to call up Jaron Morgan from grade cricket to make his BBL debut against the Stars.

After the mass exodus of title-winning players like Michael Klinger, Shaun Marsh, and Nathan Coulter-Nile, few gave the Scorchers much chance of being competitive this season yet they still sit third on the table.

"I think the guys are buying into the game plan which has been really great to see," Voges said. "The guys at the top, they know that they've got a bit of freedom to take the game on and I think Josh Inglis has played exceptionally well.

"I think the partnership that he's developed with Liam Livingstone has been a really important one. They haven't always got us off to flyers but they've contributed in their own way. I think Mitch Marsh has been outstanding as captain and a leader.

"Just seeing the things that we're talking about being implemented out on the field has probably been the most pleasing part."

Rajshahi Royals are 80 for 4 in the 14th over in pursuit of 165 in the second qualifier. Their captain Andre Russell munches on some fruits and gulps down coconut water. Russell's plan is stand still, let the head follow the ball, swing hard, and take the game as deep as possible.

"I tried to hit the ball out of anyone's way," Russell said of his unbeaten 54 off 22 balls.

All seven of his sixes on Wednesday evening sailed easily into the Shere Bangla National Stadium's stands. His fours thudded into the fence. There are no half measures in Russell's world. However, it was the simplicity of his plan that stood out.

Russell said he doesn't like batsmen who charge at bowlers in the slog overs. He is someone who can biff yorkers from the crease. And he delivered for Rajshahi when it really mattered. Rajshahi had played some impressive cricket in the league phase, but due to some lethargic batting in a knockout, they were in danger of slipping out of the tournament. Russell, though, had other ideas and pulled off a remarkable win.

"I love playing in these situations, when it is 12, 13 or 14 runs [needed] per over," Russell said. "Sometimes I love when its like even 15 or 16. I like these challenges. I am strong and I know if I stay as still as possible, I will always have an open mindset and I don't premeditate. I was upset with one of our batters who got out. He advanced down the wicket. The bowler is already under pressure at the death. Once you stay still, you give yourself every chance."

Russell praised No. 11 Abu Jayed for keeping his composure under pressure and giving him the strike in the penultimate over against Mehedi Hasan Rana. Russell took on one of the most impressive fast bowlers in the tournament and slammed him for three successive boundaries to narrow the equation to eight off six balls. He then finished it off with a six in the last over, bowled by allrounder Asela Gunaratne.

"The plan was just stay there until the end," Russell said. "I wasn't worried about the falling wickets but as more wickets fell, it put pressure on me. I just wanted one person from one end, and then let me do my thing at the other end. [Abu Jayed] Rahi stood up with me. Well done to him. I think every run was really important. These scores can be very tricky at times."

Russell said that he will hold back the celebrations for now and will set his focus towards winning the final against Khula Tigers on Friday. The star allrounder's presence in the final might attract a full house at the ground and a larger TV audience, something that has been missing so far this BPL season.