The Big Bash League season continues on Wednesday when the Sydney Thunder and the Perth Scorchers lock horns for two valuable points for both teams when the Spotless Stadium plays host to two recent champions.
Both teams were beaten in their final matches in 2018 so they will be looking to kick their 2019 form into life at the first opportunity. Given that they have one less win coming into the match this one feels bigger for the Perth Scorchers.
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Sydney Thunder
It was a perfect start to the season for the Sydney Thunder but they have lost their last two matches and could do with a victory, not just to break free of the logjam in the middle of the table, but also for peace of mind and a bit of confidence with their England players leaving in the next week or so. A win over the Perth Scorchers would do wonders for their belief moving forward.
The Thunder bowling attack is just beginning to come under a bit of pressure in recent matches and that is a concern coming into this match. In a couple of their encounters their batsmen have got them over the line but you sense that the pressure is beginning to tell on that part of their game and when that rot sets in it can be a right struggle.
Perth Scorchers
It is just one win from four matches for the former champions Perth Scorchers after they were well beaten by the Hobart Hurricanes last time out. To be fair to the Scorchers, nobody has yet found the combination to knock off the Hurricanes so we shouldn’t necessarily host that loss against them although it was another sign of their batting line up really struggling and that is a concern.
The crazy thing about their batting struggles is that they don’t even need to put up massive scores because their bowling attack is probably the best in the competition, or one of the best if they are not. If they can start finding scores of 150 regularly then there are plenty of wins in this Scorchers outfit.
Team News
Sydney Thunder are unchanged from the defeat to the Adelaide Strikers on New Year’s Eve and they could go in with the same starting XI as well although they do have options if they want to freshen things up.
The Perth Scorchers have also named an unchanged squad despite losing to the Hobart Hurricanes. It means that Cameron Bancroft will play his second match since his return from his ball tampering suspension.
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Betting
I must admit I’m always partial to a bet on the Perth Scorchers but very rarely in the Big Bash in recent times have they been odds against. That is the case here though and I’m going to jump at the chance to get stuck in. All that has been wrong with the Scorchers so far is their batting but they face a bowling attack that is just beginning to leak a few too many runs for my liking so I fancy those worries will ease here.
Sydney Thunder are very top four heavy with the bat in their hand and there can’t be many sides better with the new ball than the Perth Scorchers so it might well be that the Thunder batting gets decimated from an early stage. The Scorchers can break the back of this match in the first 10 overs with the ball and if they do that their batting woes shouldn’t come into play here.
Tips
Back Perth Scorchers to beat Sydney Thunder for a 4/10 stake at 2.20 with Bet365
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