The reigning BBL champion Perth Scorchers may have a problem on their hands.
The Scorchers fell to a 36-run loss to the Adelaide Strikers on Tuesday night which underscored their reliance this season on openers Shaun Marsh and Michael Klinger.
Entering the match, Marsh and Klinger had proven extremely difficult to dismiss, piling on a combined 376 runs in four innings.
Their dominance meant that only one other Scorcher - Marcus Harris at first-drop - had been required to bat more than once during the campaign.
The Strikers were well aware of this, and made no secret that they would target the openers in the hopes of exposing the side's middle-order.
"I think the thing is, all the pressure's on them to make runs," Strikers quick Kane Richardson said before the game.t
"At the moment they're doing that but if you get them out, their middle-order's a bunch of young kids so we've just got to find a way of getting over them."
It sounded like hubris at the time but the focus on the Scorchers openers paid off in just the first over of their innings.
Towering rookie Billy Stanlake peppered Marsh with short deliveries and quickly found an edge, before dismissing Harris in his next over.
Klinger found the boundary twice and looked to be settling in until he was clean-bowled by a zipping delivery from left-arm spinner Jon Holland, sent in early on a gamble from Strikers captain Brad Hodge.
The inexperience of the side's middle-order was quickly exposed, despite the best efforts of tailender David Willey (31) to keep the innings alive.
Chasing 175 to win, the Scorchers were bowled out for 138 off 17.2 overs.
Marsh's selection in Australia's ODI squad to play India this month will force an adjustment to what's previously been a winning formula at the top of the order.
He is expected to play for the Scorchers when they take on Sydney Thunder on Thursday before joining the squad.
The rest of the competition will no doubt be watching with interest to see whether the Scorchers have the batting depth to claim the BBL title once more.
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