We go back to Sydney for the Big Bash League offering on Wednesday as the defending champions Sydney Thunder take on the Melbourne Stars at Spotless Stadium in a rematch of last year’s final.
The Thunder won that final but they haven’t won a competitive match since and if they don’t win this one then their title defence will be over as their slim chances of making the semi-finals will have ended. The Stars are still in the infancy of their campaign but will be targeting a win just as much.
Sydney Thunder
The Thunder head into the match with a 0-4 record for the season and in truth that is all they could expect to be with the performances they have put in. They have been ordinary with the bat and their much hyped bowling attack hasn’t delivered the goods either. It is fair to say things can only get better for the champions from here.
The batting has been a real surprise because in Shane Watson, Eoin Morgan and Andre Russell they have three of the most powerful batsmen in the tournament. None of them have really fired yet but if one or two can here and the youngsters continue as they have been they may yet get something.
Melbourne Stars
It has been a quiet start to the season for the Stars. This will be the 16th match of the tournament and just the third match for the Stars. In the first two they have a comfortable win over the Hobart Hurricanes and a pretty resounding defeat to the Melbourne Renegades in the derby at the weekend.
In both matches their bowlers were given a bit of a carting and that has to be something that is addressed. It isn’t as though they have a weak attack either. Every bowler they have used has Australia caps to their name so they simply need to bowl better if the Stars are to get themselves back among the elite in the competition.
Team News
The Thunder have made one change to their squad from the defeat to the Perth Scorchers. That sees Clint McKay going out after his injury in that game and Arjun Nair replaces him.
Melbourne Stars have also made a change to their squad with Seb Gotch coming in for Cameron Gannon although they are unlikely to change their side with Rob Quiney still on the sidelines.
Betting
With one win in six matches that the two have played between them this season picking a winner of this one isn’t easy. I guess the Stars are in the better place mentally going into the match and that might lead them to victory but I can’t say I’m in any rush to back them at strong odds on.
With that in mind I’m going to go for the sixes here. Spotless is a pretty small ground and the boundaries are highly accessible as we’ve seen in the season so far where we’ve had 11 and 15 sixes despite 160 being the highest score so far.
With the Stars having some big hitters and Sydney’s bigger hitters surely coming to the party at some point, and quite possibly here against a Stars attack that is struggling, I like the idea of there being more than 12.5 sixes here.
Tips
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