Two of the better sides in the Big Bash League meet in the competition on Monday when the Adelaide Strikers host the Melbourne Stars in a key game in the season at the wonderful Adelaide Oval.
Just two points separate these two sides heading into the match so that is going to add to the intensity on show and the importance of the result. Whoever wins will end the night in the top four in the table. The losers will sitting ducks with matches beginning to run out.
Adelaide Strikers
The Adelaide Strikers will probably know that they lost one to the field in their previous match when they lost to the Melbourne Renegades and they will need to jump back on the horse here and repair that damage. There had been the odd sign recently that their bowling attack was beginning to come under a little bit of pressure and that was highlighted and exposed by a pretty ordinary until then Melbourne Renegades batting unit.
The positive is that the Strikers have put 170 and more on the board in their last two matches so while they are starting to struggle with the ball they are finding their groove with the bat. This is a team who are built to win matches with the ball in hand though so they will need to get back to bowling strongly if they are not just going to win this match, but then use a victory as a platform to make sure they finish in the top five. Three defeats in four matches may have some alarm bells ringing.
Melbourne Stars
This has been a weird campaign for the Melbourne Stars. It started in great touch with successive wins in their opening two matches. They didn’t just win those matches they eased to victory in them but since then they have won just one of six matches and all of a sudden they are beginning to look like a very ordinary unit. That is something we are not accustomed to seeing from them and it will be interesting to see how they respond now they are under real pressure here.
There is no consistency to the displays of the Stars at the minute. When they bat well they bowl poorly and when they bowl well nothing comes out of it with the bat so they are in urgent need of a complete performance. If they can find one of them then you would think they would have every chance of getting the job done here because when you look through their side they are one of the strongest teams in the league, if not the strongest.
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Team News
Peter Siddle has been ruled out of this match for the Adelaide Strikers with the injury he picked up in the last game. You would think Daniel Worrall will replace him but that is a big loss. Rashid Khan plays the final match of his season here.
The Melbourne Stars have lost Nicholas Pooran from here on in as his allotted matches in the tournament are now over. Nic Maddinson comes into the squad to replace the West Indian. Zahir Khan also makes the squad as the third overseas player.
Betting
I was leaning towards the Melbourne Stars for this match anyway but the team news keeps me in that direction. I think Peter Siddle is a bigger loss for the Strikers than what Pooran is for the Stars. I say that because the Adelaide bowling has been fraying at the edges in recent times and losing someone with 13 wickets to their cause going at less than eight an over and who bowls at the start, death and in the power surge is not a good thing. Add into the mix that Siddle took four wickets in the meeting between these two last year and he’s a big loss.
Pooran comes with a huge reputation and it is one which is richly deserved but he hasn’t been keeping wicket recently and 65 of his 127 runs came in one extraordinary innings. I also think with his ability to bowl an over or two and be pretty destructive with the bat himself, Maddinson is probably a closer replacement to Pooran than Worrall will be to Siddle. It is time for the Stars to get back on track and with Haris Rauf having had a game to adjust to conditions and the Strikers batting still looking a little light even though it is improved, I’m expecting to see a Melbourne win here.
Tips
Back Melbourne Stars to beat Adelaide Strikers for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with Coral
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