There is a double header of action scheduled in the Big Bash League on Wednesday, although as we saw on Tuesday that can all change in a heartbeat. The day is set to begin at the Adelaide Oval where the Adelaide Strikers take on the Hobart Hurricanes in the latest key match in the tournament.
The Strikers now sit bottom of the table and are in desperate need of a win here else their season might well be over. The Hurricanes have slipped to fourth but a win here will move into third and they would be 9-10 points clear of sixth and looking very good for a place at finals week.
Adelaide Strikers
It is now six defeats on the trot for the Adelaide Strikers and in truth they haven’t been competitive in any of them. They lost to the Sydney Sixers by four wickets with four balls remaining but the other five losses have been by 49 runs, 39 runs, seven wickets, 22 runs and 28 runs so they are going to need a massive turnaround in their fortunes to get anything going. I would imagine one motivation would be to avoid being the worst team in BBL history because one win in eight games is not good.
If you were a glass half full Strikers fan you could point to the fact that in six of their eight matches they have won the Bash Boost point so at the halfway mark in the second innings they are well in touch with their opposition but then they fade away quite badly. They have to find a way to play for the full 40 overs and give themselves a chance of winning matches. That might mean completely flipping their game plan but whatever they do they need to do it quickly.
Hobart Hurricanes
The Hobart Hurricanes saw a three match winning burst come to an end last time out when they went down to the Brisbane Heat. They will be looking to pick up winning ways once again and would appear to have the perfect opportunity to do just that. A win here will move them up to third and would have them sat in a handy position to push on and make this a special season but a defeat will begin to bring the other teams into play and make the last few weeks of the campaign a nervy time.
I had a huge reservation about the Hobart Hurricanes heading into that match against the Brisbane Heat. My big concern was that Ben McDermott was scoring too big a percentage of his runs and were he to go early would they have enough form to get to a competitive score. He went without scoring to the third ball he faced and the Hurricanes could only post 136 in reply to the 150 they conceded. That concern remains in place. They need a couple of others to step up and be counted.
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Team News
The Adelaide Strikers have made one enforced change to their squad with George Garton now leaving for England duty. Harry Conway comes into the squad and might make his way into the side as Adelaide look for that elusive winning combination.
The Hobart Hurricanes will be forced into a change after Nathan Ellis sustained a side strain in training. Josh Kann would most likely have replaced him having been an X-Factor last time out but he has been pinged as a close Covid contact so he misses out too. Mitch Owen might be the man who comes in.
Betting
In the three matches that Ben McDermott hasn’t scored big the Hobart Hurricanes have put up scores of 129, 125/9 and 136 so you wonder if this entire match will resolve around how quickly the Adelaide Strikers can pick him up and if they pick him up cheaply they might find themselves in a position where they can win the game. I’m not sure I would trust them to win but they do tend to bat better at home than they have done away from home.
I’m still not convinced this will be a high scoring match though. I do worry about the Hurricanes if McDermott fails. Their highest score in their last four matches outside of him has been 39 and that clearly isn’t going to be much use in terms of putting up a total. I can’t say I trust this Strikers batting unit much more but surely their bowlers will come back to the party at some point because they are one of the stronger units in the competition on paper. 323.5 runs just feels a little high given how these two batting units are going outside of McDermott.
Tips
WON – Back Under 323.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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