The top two from the regular season meet in the second playoff match in the Big Bash League on Friday when the Melbourne Stars host the Sydney Sixers with the first spot in the final the reward for the winners.
Unlike the other matches in the postseason, the losers are not done for the season. They will host the winners of Saturday’s contest in a second chance to make the final, but make no mistake both teams will be eyeing up the direct route to the title showdown.
Melbourne Stars
For the first 10 rounds of the regular season, the Melbourne Stars looked unstoppable, but in a strange way their success might have worked against them now because they were crowned as table toppers so early that inevitably their motivation dipped, and with it so has their form, and they now come into the finals in what has to be called a slump having lost their last three matches of the regular campaign.
It is easy to dismiss their poor trot coming in because they will just raise it again when they have to, and while there is a chance of that happening, it is never that easy to flick form on like a switch so the Stars are going to need something special here. We know they have the bowlers to deliver the goods but I just wonder if one too many batsmen have lost form at the wrong time for comfort. That is the big concern here.
Sydney Sixers
There are no such issues for the Sydney Sixers. If anything they have got stronger the longer the tournament has gone on, and it is probably no surprise that they enter these playoffs as the favourites to win the title from here on in. They are in decent form and they know if they take advantage of the Stars’ drop off in productivity and come through this match, they will host the final next weekend.
The Sixers arrive with their bowlers all in decent form and they have probably never looked as good with the bat as they do at the minute. Every box you need for this stage of the season is being ticked by the Sixers so now it is all about going out and delivering their game. If they do that they will feel they have more than enough in them to get the job done, whether it is a low scoring game or a higher scoring one.
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Team News
The Melbourne Stars have Haris Rauf available which is a big boost to them because there were fears he would be called into the Pakistan Test squad. They needed him available because Sandeep Lamichhane has left for international duty.
The Sydney Sixers have Sean Abbott back from injury for this match up and his return comes at just the right time for the visitors, as he comes in for Tom Curran, who has headed off to link up with England for their limited overs series in South Africa.
Betting
Plenty of bookmakers are finding it hard to separate these two sides but I have Sydney Sixers as the favourites to win this match. I know they took a bit of a tonking in the regular season match here but that should only further add to their motivation going into this one, and since then three hugely experienced and high quality players have returned to their ranks for what is effectively a semi-final here.
You can acknowledge the Melbourne Stars form with a pinch of salt or you can appreciate they have nosedived at the wrong time. Taking the foot off the gas is inevitable and they shouldn’t be held to account for that but that defeat to the Brisbane Heat suggested it was more than just that. They usually rely on their spin twins and one of them has disappeared now so there are a lot of questions over the Stars, who don’t have a great record when it comes to the finals. I’ll take the Sixers here.
Tips
WON – Back Sydney Sixers to beat Melbourne Stars for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Coral
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