As is rapidly becoming tradition in the Big Bash League, the New Year is seen in with a clash at the Adelaide Oval and this year the defending champions Adelaide Strikers play host to the Sydney Thunder in a big match in the competition.
The Thunder saw their unbeaten start ended by the Hobart Hurricanes last time out and will be looking to get back to winning ways while the Strikers were demolished by the Perth Scorchers and need to show a reaction.
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Adelaide Strikers
It will be interesting to see which approach is adopted by the defending champions in this match. Often when a side is shot out for under 100 they can go into their shell and ensure the next time they bat they play out the entire 20 overs. There is nothing wrong with that but they can’t go so defensive that when the bad ball comes along they are not in the right mindset to put it away.
Ultimately, given how poorly they batted last time out it will probably be down to their bowlers to deliver the goods and get them over the line here. That will not be out of the question as they have shown both at times in this season and very much in their title winning campaign that they have the attack to get the job done on most occasions.
Sydney Thunder
After a very strong start to the season, the Sydney Thunder saw their momentum halted a little in their last outing when they came unstuck against the Hobart Hurricanes but to date in the competition nobody has got the better of them so we shouldn’t really hold that against them. As long as their confidence didn’t take too much of a dent in that defeat there is no reason why they can’t get back on the horse here.
It goes without saying that the Thunder will have to bowl a lot better in this match but they are not facing such a fearsome batting line up here so that should happen quite naturally. The other thing they will need is their top order to get them going early so that they don’t need to take risks against the better Strikers bowlers later in the innings.
Team News
Peter Siddle has been released by Australia to take part in the match and he is expected to come straight back into the side. It remains to be seen whether Rashid Khan will feature after the death of his father over the weekend.
Sydney Thunder could be tempted into making changes for this match after their bowling got carted against Hobart. Arjun Nair could be recalled with that in mind but if they resist that urge it wouldn’t be the biggest surprise if they are unchanged.
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Betting
I’ve a feeling that the Sydney Thunder are the ones to be on here but I do respect the Adelaide Strikers both for the quality of their bowling attack and the party type atmosphere and design of the occasion getting the crowd going and helping their players to perform to the levels they usually do.
With that in mind I will head to another market for my bet where the 9.5 sixes line is just far too low, even allowing for the fact that the Adelaide Strikers have just been shot out for not very many last time out. The square boundaries here are short enough to be attacked and it only really needs a couple of players from either side to get going and then the odd hit elsewhere to get 10 sixes here. There were 16 sixes in the only previous match on this ground so I’m expecting to get to double figures here.
Tips
WON – Back Over 9.5 sixes for a 6/10 stake at 1.77 with BetVictor
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