The opening match of the new Big Bash League season sees the defending champions Sydney Sixers starting their title defence when they make the trip to Tasmania to take on the Hobart Hurricanes at the Blundstone Arena.
The Sixers will be out to prove that they can be competitive in this tournament without their Test stars while the Hurricanes have recruited strongly and will be looking for a fast start to a campaign in which they seek their first BBL title.
Hobart Hurricanes
The Hobart Hurricanes have been very good over the last couple of seasons but haven’t quite been able to get their hands on the Big Bash League title as of yet, but when you bring the likes of Dawid Malan and Colin Ingram into the club you are clearly putting out a statement of intent that you are here to win the competition. You get the feeling that this could be a statement match for the Hurricanes as they can lay a marker for the season down right here.
It is almost a given that the Hobart batting turns up and performs. It doesn’t seem to matter who is in their side for that either. The big thing for the Hurricanes is how well they go with the ball so in that respect all eyes will be on the likes of Riley Meredith, James Faulkner and Scott Boland to see how they get on. Hobart are immediately under pressure to deliver the goods with the tournament starting with their home matches, of which there are very few this season.
Sydney Sixers
When the Sydney Sixers won the title at the back end of last season it was said that they only did so because their Test stars came back at the right time. They immediately have the chance to show that was not the only reason because they will be without those players for this first period of the competition. What we did see in the early part of last term is that the Sixers have a good blend of young talent coming through and those players are likely to get the chance to showcase their stuff here.
If there is a weakness in this Sixers side it is often that their batting looks a little light when it is compared to other teams in the competition. That isn’t so much the case this season because they have recruited some good quality all-rounders to take care of that. Their bowling is arguably even more powerful as a result of that which makes them dangerous in any match they play. If they score runs here they should go very close to the win.
Special Offer
Sign up for an account on the Betfair Exchange and get a free £20 risk free bet to use on the BBL! Click the image below to bet. 18+ T&Cs apply. New accounts only. Gamble Aware.
New customers only, bet up to £20 on the Exchange and if your first bet loses, we’ll refund you £20 in Cash. Bet must be placed in first 7 days of account opening. Click the above image to bet. T&Cs apply. Payment restrictions apply.
Team News
Hobart Hurricanes will be without Ben McDermott who is with the Australia A side while Matthew Wade and Tim Paine are with Australia. Dawid Malan has to quarantine but Colin Ingram and Will Jacks are available to play. Just as importantly D’Arcy Short is in the squad too. Peter Handscomb will skipper in the absence of Wade.
Sydney Sixers have also been hit by call ups to that Australia A squad. They knew they were going to be without the likes of Steve Smith and Mitchell Starc anyway but Moises Henriques is in the Australia A squad which doesn’t help. Dan Christian is set for a debut here while James Vince and Carlos Brathwaite are back in pink. Jake Ball will have to quarantine when he arrives.
Betting
I’m expecting a high scoring match here. There hasn’t been much limited overs cricket played in the Australian summer yet with everything that is going on so I would expect the bowlers to need a gallop before they get everything firing as they would like. It isn’t like Blundstone is devoid of runs either. Quite often the higher scoring matches in the tournament are on this ground and I don’t expect that to change here.
Both teams have quality and powerful opening batsmen so if those bowlers are loose to begin with then the batters have it in their armoury to really take advantage of that. You’ve got to think scores will be slightly higher this season with teams looking for that bonus point for being ahead after 10 overs and the two overs of fielding restrictions late in the innings could propel average totals to good ones and good to enormous ones. My initial instinct is this will be a high scoring tournament as a result of the changes and I’ll bet on that by taking over 328.5 runs in this one.
Tips
WON – Back Over 328.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Betway
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2020
