The third match of Big Bash season seven sees two more sides getting their campaigns up and running when the Hobart Hurricanes host the Melbourne Renegades at Blundstone Arena.
Both these sides missed out on the play-offs last season which extends their run without making it beyond the group stage. That will give the pair all the motivation necessary to have a good go this season, beginning with this match.
Hobart Hurricanes
All eyes will be on the Hobart Hurricanes now they are under the highly rated stewardship of Gary Kirsten who is well respected in the game. He will take over a side who are surely short on confidence even allowing for the fact most Australians are not short of confidence. Having not won many matches in recent seasons it will be interesting to see if they know how to win in pressure situations.
If they are going to win matches then they are going to have to be a lot more threatening with the ball than they have been, especially last season. Not one bowler made it into double figures for wickets which really isn’t a good record. On the bright side they look more than tasty enough with the bat.
Melbourne Renegades
For the last couple of seasons the Melbourne Renegades have promised much and delivered little so the pressure is on them to get the job done here this time around. They can have no excuses from a squad point of view even if we do cut them a little slack when we consider that Aaron Finch often leaves them halfway through.
They have recruited in big numbers going into this season and appear to have every box ticked among their playing staff. One area they need to plan around is defending their home ground. It isn’t easy to defend but they made a pig’s ear of it on a couple of occasions last year and that can be the difference between the top four and bottom four.
Team News
The Hobart Hurricanes are without Tim Paine who is away with Australia so Matthew Wade will make his debut against his former side. Jofra Archer and Tymal Mills will be among a large group of debutants.
Melbourne Renegades will resemble the Adelaide Strikers here with Tim Ludeman, Brad Hodge, Jon Holland and Kane Richardson all in line for debuts. Mohammad Nabi is another expected to play his first match for the Renegades.
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Betting
Money is piling in on the Melbourne Renegades which I can understand to an extent because they look better equipped to defend totals this season but I think I would rather see them defend something first before steaming into them especially when we think back to the match between the two last year where Hobart chased down the better part of 230 against them.
Matches between these two have been high scoring in the past and although both have reinforced with the ball on what is usually a good wicket down in Hobart I like the idea of there being more than 36.5 boundaries. The outfield is usually pretty good here and this early in the Big Bash campaign I expect to see good wickets. We’ve got the likes of Aaron Finch, George Bailey, Dan Christian and Cameron White to pepper the boundaries so I like the overs here.
Tips
WON – Back Over 36.5 boundaries for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with William Hill
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