We want to keep the good form going, says Scorchers head coach Shelley Nitschke

"We are coming off a pretty good set of four wins. So, we come in with some good confidence, I suppose. We are just looking to keep that form going," Nitschke told the reporters on Monday (November 16).

Speaking of the opponents, Nitschke admitted that the Stars might come hard at them, especially after their loss to Melbourne Renegades. "We certainly know that we are up against the top team, but I think some of the cricket we have been playing, we can match it with them," she added.

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On missing the services of their skipper Sophie Devine, Nitschke said that it is a massive loss for the Scorchers. She guessed that Devine may have carried the injury into the game, and that further details would only be known after further investigation.

"(The injury is) something she believes she has done in the past. Potentially not the same mechanism that set it off, but certainly, something that she has done in the past, and at the moment, further investigation is going on to work out what's happening there."

Dominant with bat & ball 🏏 Enjoy our highlights from yesterday's match 🆚 Thunder ⚡ This win takes us up to 2️⃣nd on the #WBBL06 table! 🔥 #MADETOUGH pic.twitter.com/uGQTh5nMNF

— Perth Scorchers (@ScorchersBBL) November 16, 2020

However, she remains confident that Devine will return to action soon. "We are quite confident that we will see her again. She is pretty resilient and fit, we hope that the turnaround won't be too long."

Speaking about the return of the England batting star Amy Jones, Nitschke said that they would wait until tomorrow morning to see whether she makes into the playing XI. "She has still got a few boxes to tick. We will have wait and see how that plays out in the morning. I couldn't really say what's going to happen in the next 12 hours or 24 hours, but we are confident that we will see her at some stage. It's just unsure if it will be tomorrow."

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Praising the efforts of the Scorchers bowling unit, Nitschke said that she is impressed with the way Taneale Peschel and Sarah Glenn have performed in pressure situations during the powerplay. "With the bowling attack, one of the standouts has been the early wickets in the powerplay, and Pesch has been leading from the front on that. She has been fantastic for us, and as is Sarah Glenn. Coming over from England for her first WBBL, she has bowled some pretty tough overs for us as a leg spinner in the powerplay as well."

Taneale Peschel with an absolute Jaffa 🍑@ScorchersBBL with two early wickets #WBBL06 pic.twitter.com/RZdl775v6O

— 7Cricket (@7Cricket) November 15, 2020

Speaking about the other two changes in the Scorchers squad, Nitschke said that in the absence of Devine and Lauren Down, they would try to strengthen the middle-order and bring some variation in the bowling attack with Mathilda Carmichael and Georgia Wyllie.

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As they enter the back end of the tournament, with pitches slowing down, skidding though and the ball keeping low, Nitschke said the left-arm variation of Wyllie might come in handy. "She offers us a different option with her left arm medium, and what we found on some of the wickets here is that they are getting slow and low. What she offers with her stump to stump bowling is certainly something we will be considering when we are selecting the final XI."

On their plans to get the better of the Meg Lanning-led Stars, who have lost only one match this season, Nitschke believes that their new-ball bowling would be crucial. "If we can get through the top order with what we have been displaying in the powerplay with the ball, put pressure on them that way, and then we need to step up with the bat and back our own games and be brave enough to take it to them," she concluded.