The second part of the Sunday double header comes from the Sydney Showground Stadium as the Sydney Thunder take on the Adelaide Strikers in what is a repeat of the match which took place on New Year’s Eve.
The Thunder stole the show on that evening and will be looking to replicate that effort here to move up to third place in the table and consolidate their playoff hopes. The Strikers might well be drinking in the last chance saloon if they are going to keep their finals dreams alive.
Sydney Thunder
We are starting to see the Sydney Thunder show us some of their best stuff now they have worked their way into the competition. What will have pleased them most about their win in Adelaide on Friday was that they did it despite the upheaval of positive Covid tests on the day of the game which meant they were without four big players. They need their youngsters to come in and make an impact and that is exactly what happened.
That bodes well for the Thunder for the remainder of the competition. It means they are building up a nice depth to their squad and that will ease their minds because the last thing any team needs is a potential Covid threat at the back end of the season and basically have to forego any chance of winning the title. The Thunder are batting very well at present and that is suiting their bowlers nicely as they get to show all of their repertoires.
Adelaide Strikers
The defeat on New Year’s Eve means that this dismal season for the Adelaide Strikers continues. They now have just one win from their opening seven matches and you would think they are going to need to return at least five victories in the second half of the season if they are going to be around for the finals. That would look unlikely at present but you can soon get on a roll in these franchise events and that needs to start now.
The problem for the Strikers is that neither their batting or their bowling is looking great right now. To be fair to their batters they have scored more than 160 in their last three matches but it hasn’t made a blind bit of difference because their bowlers have just gone around the park in those games. To be fair they have run into a couple of monster innings in their last two matches but that happens in these tournaments and they need to find a way to get over that.
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Team News
The Sydney Thunder will be without the quartet who missed out in Adelaide in Alex Hales, Alex Ross, Tanveer Sangha and Sam Whiteman but they have got Muhammad Hasnain around the squad now if they want to use him.
Once again the Adelaide Strikers are without Travis Head and Alex Carey. After going for 47 in three overs and chewing up balls with the bat it might be that George Garton makes way for the Strikers. Wes Agar would be an obvious option to come in.
Betting
I like the boundaries here. That probably isn’t a surprise to anyone but we saw that there is a potential for boundaries when these two meet in the reverse fixture in Adelaide on Friday night. There were 41 of them in that match and although these boundaries aren’t as short as the square ones there but then at the same time the straight ones here are nowhere near as long as they are at the Adelaide Oval.
The one thing we do know about this ground is that the pitch is always good for batting and the outfield is probably the fastest in the competition, both factors which heavily assist in the boundary hitting. We also know that this Sydney Thunder side have a lot of boundaries in them and Adelaide aren’t really restricting anyone at the minute. We also know that the Strikers batters are being more aggressive in recent matches to accommodate for that. I expect more than 34.5 boundaries here.
Tips
WON – Back Over 34.5 boundaries for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with William Hill
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