The Big Bash League returns from a couple of days off on Saturday when the first day game of the tournament is played out inside the Blundstone Arena as the Hobart Hurricanes take on the BBL 08 champions Melbourne Renegades in an appealing fixture.
Both these teams started the season well but they are both going into this match off the back of defeats, a very concerning and heavy one in the case of the Renegades, so it will be interesting to see who can rebound and come out on top here.
Hobart Hurricanes
The Hobart Hurricanes slipped up against the Adelaide Strikers last time out. That will have been disappointing for them because they beat the same opponents in the match before that. Their issue was not winning the key moments with the bat and in the end they didn’t put up a big enough score and were pretty soundly beaten. We know their batting order is in good touch because they’ll all scored runs over the three matches but they need to bat as a unit to maximise their scores.
The other slight concern comes with their bowling attack although it would be harsh to judge that unit in the last game when it was pretty obvious that their batsmen didn’t give them enough to defend. It might just act as a reminder that there is room for improvement from within them though and the arrival of Keemo Paul should provide natural encouragement in that regard. A win for he Hurricanes here will have them sitting very pretty.
Melbourne Renegades
The two matches so far in the tournament for the Melbourne Renegades have been the complete opposite of each other. The first one saw them deliver a brilliant bowling and fielding performance and a very creditable offering with the bat but then came a loss against the Sydney Sixers where they were very ordinary with the ball and absolutely terrible with the bat, resulting in one of the biggest defeats in the history of the Big Bash League.
Those sorts of displays can be shocks to the system so it will be interesting to see how they go about their business here. The one thing we should say was the second game was the day after the first one and everyone will know that I maintain that is a tricky thing to cope with. If they come out here and put in a very strong performance we can forget about the previous match but if they stutter and struggle again then a few questions will start to be asked of them.
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Team News
Keemo Paul is now available for selection for the Hobart Hurricanes and he is likely to come into the side to replace Johan Botha who made a little bit of history when he got subbed out of the previous match. Dawid Malan remains in quarantine however.
The Melbourne Renegades have honoured their commitment to give Aaron Finch the match off to rest him from the various bubbles he has been in recently. Shaun Marsh will take over the captaincy while Mohammad Nabi and Noor Ahmad have arrived to be included for the first time. Rilee Rossouw or Sam Harper will move up to open.
Betting
Both these sides have something to prove in this match, particularly with the bat but I do think it will be relatively high scoring. Hobart should learn from the mistakes that they made against the Adelaide Strikers whereas I’m confident that the Melbourne Renegades’ shambolic display against the Sydney Sixers was purely schedule based rather than anything that could have gone wrong within their camp or anything like that.
The boundaries line for this match looks on the low side at 355. We’ve seen in the tournament already that this is a ground where you can find the ropes fairly easily and of course four of the 40 overs in this match will be power surge overs where if batsmen who are in are taking advantage of that then the boundaries will flow naturally. This is a day game so there isn’t going to be any condition bias or anything like that so I’m expecting this line to be covered by two sides who have plenty of batting power and depth.
Tips
WON – Back Over 35.5 boundaries for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with William Hill
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