The second Melbourne derby of the Big Bash League season takes place in the only match of the tournament on Saturday as the Melbourne Renegades host their city rivals Melbourne Stars in a huge match for the visitors.
A drop off in their form have seen the Stars drop to the foot of the table so they will be looking to kick their season back into life here, while the Renegades can strengthen their own top four credentials with a victory.
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Melbourne Renegades
There aren’t many consistent teams in this tournament so the run of three wins in their last our matches have seen the Melbourne Renegades fly up the table, and another win here would not only put them in the box seat for a semi-final spot, but also possibly to host a game in the last four. Victory here would give them six wins but they have played more matches than anyone else in the campaign.
In those three wins they have kept their opponents to a score below 150 and that appears to be their quest for the remainder of the tournament, as the only time in recent matches that their opponents have got away from them with the bat, their own batsmen have crumbled in a heap. That puts the emphasis on the bowlers to deliver the goods.
Melbourne Stars
After getting themselves into a decent position in the league table, the Melbourne Stars have dropped their last three matches. Obviously they won’t have wanted to have lost all of those fixtures but the caveat to that is that they have been without four huge players so they might not be as disappointed as they might normally have been.
One thing the Stars do need to do now that their internationals are returning is make sure they pick up where they left off before they went away. That means being tight with the ball and allowing their expansive batsmen the time to get themselves in before opening their shoulders and doing the damage that we know they can.
Team News
Australia have released Aaron Finch for this match despite him playing in the ODI on Friday. He will skipper the side and Marcus Harris is also around ahead of the Test matches which begin again next week. Beau Webster sits out for Finch.
Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Peter Handscomb and Adam Zampa are all back available for the Melbourne Stars for this match and barring any fitness hangover from the ODI on Friday, all four will play. Nick Larkin, Liam Bowe, Scott Boland and Jonathan Merlo are the men to make way.
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Betting
With their players back for this match, I like the Melbourne Stars to come through this match. If they can go beyond 155-160 with the bat then they will have a weak looking Renegades batting line up under all sorts of pressure and if Aaron Finch doesn’t get going for the home side we could easily see one of those poor performances from them with the bat.
We saw prior to the ODIs beginning that the Stars were a good side and they are approaching drinking in the last chance saloon. You never truly know what you are going to get from the Renegades in terms of their batting so now that they are back to full strength I’m going to take the visitors to extend what was a three match winning streak with their strongest side.
Tips
WON – Back Melbourne Stars to beat Melbourne Renegades for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Betfair
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