The second half of the double header in the Big Bash League on Sunday sees the league leaders Sydney Sixers going up against a team who are in win or bust territory in the form of the Hobart Hurricanes.
The Sixers have already secured a place in the finals and will guarantee a top two finish with a win here. Hobart have two matches left and it is likely that only two wins will be good enough for them to qualify for the latter stages.
Sydney Sixers
Although the Sydney Sixers have wrapped up a place in the finals, they will be looking to bounce back from their worst performance of the campaign in their last match. They won’t need to search too hard to know where they went wrong against their rivals Sydney Thunder, they bowled some absolute filth and went round the park accordingly. To be fair to their bowlers Alex Hales had them under pressure early and took them all apart.
You often see a side who have blazed a trail in a league for so long struggle to finish the campaign off when they have already secured the initial aim and that could very well happen to the Sixers here. They know how to win this competition though which is all that counts but even then they will be wanting to go into the playoffs with some positive energy behind them. A good bowling effort here will certainly help in that regard.
Hobart Hurricanes
The Hobart Hurricanes were looking pretty when it came to finishing in the top five this season in the early stages of the campaign but they have gone off the boil in recent times and now need two wins from their last two matches to make it through to the finals. They have now won just one of their last five matches and that run of form has come at a time they could ill afford it. Their race isn’t run yet but you sense it would take something special to turn their fortunes around.
The thing the Hurricanes need to do in these last two matches is post a decent score with the bat. In this run of four defeats in five matches, in only one of them have they posted more than 160 and with the new rules and everything you are sitting ducks if you don’t reach that total, especially on the grounds they have been playing on. They still have enough with the ball to be competitive if they can get those scores on the board.
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Team News
The Sydney Sixers have once again named Sean Abbott in their squad and having left him out of the previous match you have to think with the way they bowled that he will surely come into the side here. Jackson Bird could be the one to miss out.
The Hobart Hurricanes have named an unchanged side from the one which was beaten by the Perth Scorchers last time out. Unless they decide to bring Tim Paine into their XI you would think they will be unchanged as the backup options don’t look as good as the main ones.
Betting
This one feels a little tricky to call. We don’t really know whether that awful bowling effort from the Sydney Sixers in their last match was a bad day at the office for their bowlers or a slackening now that they have qualified for the postseason. Either way I’m not completely sure I want to pay at odds on to find out. In saying that there is more than a slight concern that the Hobart Hurricanes have run their race this season so I don’t really want to rush into backing them either.
Instead I’ll go with a performance which is Dan Christian where his line is 40.5 which feels high for a T20 game but I’m not so sure it is high enough here because he matches up well to the Hurricanes. Hobart have a pretty long tail so the overs Christian bowls towards the death can be lucrative in terms of wickets and the Hurricanes also lack a death bowler alongside Nathan Ellis so Christian could get a few lusty blows away late on as well. Christian took three wickets when these two met earlier in the season and he has got better with the bat in that time too. He’s always in a good catching position as well so I think he can cover this 40.5 line.
Tips
Back D.Christian’s Performance – Over 40.5pts for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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