The second Melbourne Derby of the season forms the action in the Big Bash League on Wednesday when the Melbourne Renegades host the Melbourne Stars at the Marvel Stadium with the hosts looking to put a spanner in the works of their visitors.
The Renegades have been pushing up the rest in the table since the second week of the campaign whereas the Stars are slowly moving themselves into a position where they will feel they belong as they seek their first Big Bash League title.
Melbourne Renegades
I keep on saying that this has been a terrible season for the Melbourne Renegades, the second in succession for the men in red, and it has but perhaps its biggest issue is the fact that there appears to be no sign of progress from them or a long-term plan. They will argue that they are trying a few youngsters now but they are not really playing them in the responsible positions so even that feels like it is a token gesture rather than anything else.
Their batting has been pathetic all season long, and while much of that is down to the unforeseen terrible form of their captain Aaron Finch, they have still been carrying other out of form players up the order when a couple of youngsters have looked good down the order. The other thing that has hampered them all season long is their senior bowlers haven’t shown up and their death bowling has gone all round the park as a result.
Melbourne Stars
The Melbourne Stars moved up to fourth when they won the first Melbourne Derby over the weekend and any win here will move them up to second and put them in position to not only make the finals, which a week or so ago was becoming slightly doubtful, but finish in the positions from which to get two bites at the cherry in terms of making the final. The Stars will be expected to dominate this game, which brings a certain pressure, but that expectation does look completely justified.
The big difference for the Stars in the last couple of matches is how well they have bowled. They do tend to bowl well in their own conditions so it will be interesting to see if they can take that form into this one now that they are back away from the Melbourne Cricket Ground. It will also be interesting to see if someone can use their brains with the bat because this is not a ground to swing like lunatics from ball one.
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Team News
The Melbourne Renegades have left Noor Ahmad out of their squad for this match. As exciting a signing as that was it hasn’t really worked out for either party. There is still no sign of Marcus Harris for the Renegades even though the Test series finished on Tuesday.
Nathan Coulter-Nile returns to the Melbourne Stars squad for this match although based on how well they bowled in the reverse fixture, it might mean that he is named as an X-Factor to begin with unless Andre Fletcher takes the gloves and NC-N replaces Seb Gotch.
Betting
I expect the Melbourne Stars to win this match and I wouldn’t be surprised if they win it by a decent margin but I’m put off of backing them to cover the handicap because the 12.5 runs side of things is a little on the high side in terms of should the Stars be so in control that they get sloppy towards the end and a few lusty blows gets the Renegades close enough to make the score look respectable when it hasn’t been. Instead I’ll head for another bet.
That comes in the form of under 312.5 runs which I think is very much on the high side here. Marvel Stadium isn’t the easiest ground to belt the ball to the boundary on and the outfield is generally slow so threes aren’t easy to come by either. A lot of spin is going to be bowled in this match and I don’t think that is going to be easy to score off either. Add to all of that we will be playing on a used pitch with there having been a match here on Tuesday so the second innings it could get very hard to score on. The Renegades haven’t been much cop with the bat at any stage this season so I think this line looks a little too high. I’ll play the under.
Tips
Back Under 312.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Betway
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