The Big Bash League continues with a double header of action on Thursday and that starts at the Sydney Showground Stadium, which stages the competition for the first time this term, as the table topping Sydney Thunder host the Melbourne Stars.
The Thunder have been in good touch this season and can open up a gap at the top if they win here but they will be all too aware that the Stars will overtake them if they can come away from Sydney with the victory.
Sydney Thunder
Five games into the season and still the Sydney Thunder have not been beaten inside the original distance of a match. Their only loss came in that epic Super Over loss to the Sydney Sixers while they were also denied maximum points by the Adelaide Strikers when they were four balls away from winning the game. Their three wins have been pretty convincing so it has been a decent beginning to the campaign for the Thunder.
The impressive thing for the Thunder this season has been their bowling attack. With the exception of Chris Morris, it doesn’t have a standout star name, but they all come together within their roles to combine into a strong unit, and with their top order all in decent nick they have a pretty good combination going at present. Unlike some sides in the competition they are not going to lose anyone when the ODIs come around which is a big thing too.
Melbourne Stars
By and large it has been a decent campaign for the Melbourne Stars as well. They were good winners of their opening two matches before a narrow loss to the Adelaide Strikers, which probably isn’t that bad a result in the grand scheme of things. The good thing was that they bounced back to see off the Hobart Hurricanes in a rain affected affair and if they come out on top here they will reach the summit of the table and have a match in hand.
There is probably a lot more to come from the Melbourne Stars too. They are yet to make 170 with the bat this season but when you look at their top six man for man, there is so much quality in it that those are the scores they should be getting. The positive thing for them is that they probably won’t need to score that many because their bowling attack is more than good enough to restrict sides to manageable totals, as they have proven so far.
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Team News
As you would expect, the Sydney Thunder have named an unchanged squad from their win over the Adelaide Strikers on New Year’s Eve and barring any late injury or illness you would think that they will keep with the same XI as well.
Melbourne Stars have made a significant change to their squad for this match with Haris Rauf coming back into their ranks to replace Sandeep Lamichhane who is nursing an injury ahead of the Melbourne derby.
Betting
This is a match that could go either way given that they are both good sides. I don’t think there will be a lot between them so you could argue that the Sydney Thunder will be value here but in truth I think the Melbourne Stars will win this one if I had to pin my colours to a particular mast but I’m not wholly convinced I trust their ‘rely on Glenn Maxwell’ batting plan so I’m taking a bet in a side market here.
That comes in the boundaries where actually I think both bowling attacks could control the flow of them here. The inclusion of Rauf for the Melbourne Stars could be a game changer because he has been watertight thus far and taken wickets. Sydney Thunder have a plethora of spinners who can also control the rate of boundaries so I’m thinking that 36.5 of them in what could well be a low scoring contest is a little too high.
Tips
WON – Back Under 36.5 boundaries for a 4/10 stake at 1.73 with William Hill
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