The Big Bash League continues on Thursday with one match taking place when the Adelaide Strikers meet the Melbourne Renegades for the second time in the space of three days as they open their home campaign at the Adelaide Oval.
The Renegades edged out the Strikers at Marvel Stadium on Tuesday and so Adelaide will be keen to gain revenge. If Melbourne can come out on top here they will join the Sydney Sixers as the early pacesetters in the tournament.
Adelaide Strikers
The Adelaide Strikers will be disappointed to lose their first match in Melbourne earlier in the week. For a lot of the run chase it looked like they had things out of control but they couldn’t quite hold their nerve at the back end of the innings and went down by a couple of runs. I think we need to be fair to them though because if anything could go wrong in that game it generally did and the injury to Ryan Gibson proved a turning point.
To be fair though, Adelaide should have been chasing a lot more than they eventually were. While you have to give credit to their bowlers for hanging tough and getting stuck in late in the innings, the Renegades were architects of their own downfall in a late innings collapse. Ultimately though, the concern I had about the Strikers and their light looking batting order came to roost and that is something they are going to need to address somehow because they won’t be getting Alex Carey or Travis Head back anytime soon.
Melbourne Renegades
The Melbourne Renegades weren’t exactly convincing in that opening match but when you consider they had propped up the table for the past two seasons they will be delighted to get over the line regardless of the manner in which they did it. I would imagine that as confidence begins to rise as a result of that win, we will see the Renegades naturally improve in the areas where they were a little loose in that first game and that makes them dangerous.
The biggest thing for the Renegades was that they won without a number of big players. There was no Aaron Finch, Shaun Marsh or Nic Maddinson in that first game and Cameron Boyce would have been impactful as well so the team in red know that there is even more to come from them when those players are available. In this match the Renegades need to finish off their batting innings a little better and use the power surge a bit smarter than they did in the opening game.
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Team News
Ryan Gibson has been ruled out of this match with the injury that he picked up in the first meeting between these two sides. Liam O’Connor has been called into the squad in his place and could well come into the starting XI.
Aaron Finch and Cameron Boyce were announced in the squad for the opening match but we now know that they are injured and aren’t in the travelling party for this one. That means that the Melbourne Renegades are likely to be unchanged.
Betting
I just can’t get over how short the Adelaide Strikers batting looks. I took them on in the opening match between these two largely because of that and I have to take them on again here. I think there is more to come from the Melbourne Renegades. A couple of times they threatened to dominate that first contest between these two only to stumble at some key moments but with a win on the board providing a platform and some confidence I expect those moments to be embraced much more moving forward.
If Adelaide were light with the bat before they are even lighter with it now that Ryan Gibson has been ruled out of the game and that is a huge concern. The Renegades have a nicely balanced attack with plenty of experience at the key stages of the innings and now the younger batsmen have got a win under their belt their egos should flourish a little more. I’m surprised the Renegades are odds against after what we saw on Tuesday but I’m happy to be on them again.
Tips
Back Melbourne Renegades to beat Adelaide Strikers for a 3/10 stake at 2.22 with Bet365
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