The third match of the Big Bash League campaign sees the defending champions Melbourne Renegades beginning their title defence when they host the Sydney Thunder in a key match for both teams in Geelong.
This will be the second outing of the season for the Thunder, and after picking up a win in their first one they have a chance to steal an early march on the field. That won’t be easy though with the Renegades looking to remind everyone just why they are the champions.
Melbourne Renegades
This will be a big night for the Melbourne Renegades as they take to the field as the defending champions for the first time. They usually get a good reception in Geelong and that is unlikely to change here it must be said. The Renegades have to put last season behind them now though. That has been and gone and it is the here and now which matters most. They will know that but actually doing it can sometimes be a different thing.
The good thing for the Renegades is that they haven’t stood still and gone in with the same squad which won the title. They have built on that and the signing of Shaun Marsh is arguably the standout switch for this campaign. He will slot into a batting line up that was already good enough and with much of the same bowling attack going again, the Renegades look set for yet another high profile campaign.
Sydney Thunder
When I wrote the outright preview for this tournament I had a hunch that the Sydney Thunder could be dark horses for this season. With that in mind you could argue I was proved right when they beat the Brisbane Heat in their opening match. We might have to wait until the end of this one to truly judge them though because once again it was the brainless Brisbane that turned up in that game, without taking anything away from the Thunder.
To be fair, Sydney were in tatters halfway through their innings but the class of Callum Ferguson, who incredibly only has 34 Australia caps in the three formats, got them to a decent total and then their spinners just strangled the life out of the Heat batting order, not that it needed by choking done to it. The beauty from that is that the Thunder won without their top order contributing. That suggests there is plenty more to come which is no bad thing.
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Team News
Aaron Finch has confirmed that Sam Harper will be his opening partner after he clobbered a ton against Melbourne Stars in a warm up match earlier in the week. Shaun Marsh is likely to bat at three. Richard Gleeson and Harry Gurney will be the overseas players.
Sydney Thunder have made one change to their squad with Jay Lenton coming into it to give them an extra batting option. Chris Morris was due in for this match but he hasn’t been included in the squad listed for the game.
Betting
This isn’t an easy match to bet on and one of the reasons why that is, is the match prices are about right. The other issue is that matches here in Geelong have tended to be low scoring but I’m not sure I want to take that stance on a fresh pitch which in theory should play better than it might do normally. I will go with one though which covers all scenarios in my mind.
That is the performance of Aaron Finch which has a line of 32.5pts but I’m not so sure that is high enough. The Australian captain won’t have to go gung ho from the off here if he doesn’t want to as his opening partner will be teeing off from ball one and that is going to be a benefit to Finch. Finch is more than good enough to make it up to 33 runs whatever the wicket is doing and he’s in excellent form too. He closed out the T20I series with Sri Lanka with 37 then against Pakistan made 37*, 17 and 52* and his last innings was a ton in the 50 over comp for Victoria. He has only played here once and he smacked 50 on that occasion too so if they wicket plays ball he’ll go well with the bat. If it doesn’t then his spin could come into the attack which would do the scoring potential no harm. Add catches into the pot as well and I like over 32.5pts from him here.
Tips
WON – Back A.Finch’s Performance – Over 32.5pts for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Bet365
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