We have another double header of action in the Big Bash League to enjoy on Monday and it begins down in Tasmania where the Hobart Hurricanes play host to the Adelaide Strikers in a match which will see one of them moving into third in the standings.
Hobart boosted their league position with a good win over the Melbourne Stars on Christmas Eve and will be looking to back that up here, while the Strikers have been collecting Bash Boost points to have them on the edge of the playoff spots.
Hobart Hurricanes
The Hobart Hurricanes have stuttered at the beginning of the season I think it is fair to say. A lot of that has been down to their batting. When they have got off to good starts with the bat they have tended to win the match, but when things haven’t gone their own way at the beginning of their innings they have been guilty of falling in a hole and leaving themselves with far too much to do to either put a score on the board or chase one down.
It is probably telling us something that the two matches the Hurricanes have won have been when they have batted first. The three they have lost were when they bowled first. There appears to be more freedom in their batters when they start the game with the bat. They shouldn’t be too down on their losses anyway as they came to the Perth Scorchers twice and the Sydney Sixers and those two look a cut above the field in this competition.
Adelaide Strikers
We are approaching the halfway mark in the first part of the season and the Adelaide Strikers have just the one win, which was against a tame Melbourne Renegades side, so they need to find some form and fast if they are going to be around when the business end of the campaign comes around. You don’t need to be any sort of an expert to know that their improvement has to come with the bat. They finally broke the 155 barrier last time out which is encouraging, but they were still well beaten.
There was no shortage of aggression with the bat from the Strikers and while the score they were chasing probably dictated that, that is something they can take away from the defeat to the Heat last time out. The concern would be that their bowling got carted for the first time in a while and they certainly can’t afford that to become a trend. You sense this is a big match for the Strikers, one they need to win to take into their traditional New Year’s Eve game.
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Team News
The Hobart Hurricanes have named an unchanged squad from the one they used on Christmas Eve. They will be without Scott Boland who is playing for Australia, and Joel Paris who is still injured. Harry Brook could do with a score to keep his place.
The Adelaide Strikers have also named the same squad they used for their previous match. Given the damage that was done to their bowling attack you would imagine Dan Worrall will come back in here. Rashid Khan is fit despite an injury scare in the previous game.
Betting
The recent matches here at the Blundstone Arena have had a short boundary on one side of the ground. I suspect that is because they have the Test match coming soon and don’t want to be using the Test pitch so I would imagine that trend of short boundaries will continue here. That makes me think we’ll see a few sixes in this match. Adelaide Strikers are used to playing on a ground with a short boundary so they will know all about planning for it with the bat.
I still maintain that the Hobart Hurricanes are among the most powerful teams in the league with the bat and we finally saw a glimpse of that in their previous match. They still have a couple of weak links with the ball though that can be exposed while the Strikers come here off the back of their bowlers taking a bit of a beating up. The sixes line for this one is only 9.5 which has been covered in all three matches here, even when Hobart didn’t show up with the bat, so I like the over here as I expect Adelaide to come out swinging in this one.
Tips
Back Over 9.5 sixes for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Coral
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