After a day without Big Bash League action on Friday, the competition returns with a double header on Saturday which begins in Melbourne as the Melbourne Renegades take on the Sydney Thunder in a match which sees two top five teams colliding.
The Renegades have taken advantage of weakened opponents to move their way back into the top five and will be looking to kick on here. The Thunder have put a burst of form together of their own and can move into sole second if they inherit points from this match.
Melbourne Renegades
The Melbourne Renegades looked like they were going to stink the place out a couple of matches ago but they have fallen on their feet by getting the Melbourne Stars and the Brisbane Heat when those two sides were ravaged by Covid cases. To be fair to the men in red, they took advantage on both occasions but I think it is fair to say that this is going to be a tougher assignment than both of those were so we will find out just how strong their challenge for the remainder of the season will be.
One thing which will help the Renegades moving forward is that all of their star players are now available. We saw evidence of that in the previous match when Shaun Marsh and Aaron Finch got going and if they can start putting up the sort of scores which guided the red side of Melbourne to the title three seasons ago then they certainly have the bowlers to lay down a real challenge to the rest. That is the task ahead of them now.
Sydney Thunder
The Sydney Thunder have now won their last four matches and five of their last six games and are looking more and more like the team to beat in this competition. Two of those wins have been over the Perth Scorchers so it isn’t like they have taken advantage of a soft schedule either and they could rightfully argue that the rain did them no favours in the match they were beaten in too. We are still a long way out from the end of this competition though so the Thunder will need to maintain this form for a good while if they are going to win this tournament.
The impressive thing about this run for the Thunder is that they have had to deal with some Covid issues while they have gone on it but they look to be clearing up now so you would imagine they will only be stronger even allowing for the fact that a couple of international players have left for national duty. The other good thing about this run for the Thunder is they have won posting scores and last time out won chasing one down which suggests there is a real good balance to this team.
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Team News
Melbourne Renegades will be forced into a change for this match as James Pattinson suffered an injury in the win over the Brisbane Heat earlier in the week. Mohammad Nabi was X-Factored into that game and is the likely option to replace him. Josh Lalor is in the squad too.
Sydney Thunder will be forced into a couple of changes with Sam Billings and Saqib Mahmood now departed for England duty. They do have Sam Whiteman, Tanveer Sangha and Alex Ross back off the Covid absentee list and Muhammad Hasnain is available after not being allowed into Queensland.
Betting
Two of the last three matches on this ground have contained first innings scores above 200 and while they were down to impressive knocks there is more than enough talent in these two batting units to if not put up scores of 200 then to clear the ropes relatively at will. That makes me think the best bet here is for the sixes to land. We know the match will go ahead because the stadium has a roof so we know the bet will stand unlike in some matches recently where the rain has been an issue.
There are a couple of factors other than the previous scores on this ground why I like the sixes. The first is that we’ve seen in every match here that the square boundaries are pretty accessible here but also Aaron Finch confirmed that there was a clear intention within the Renegades last time out to address their net run rate. That is still the worst of any team outside of the Stars so it still needs a lot of work so I suspect if they are chasing they’ll go after the bowling when the chance arises. The Thunder hit big all the way down so I like over 11.5 sixes here.
Tips
WON – Back Over 11.5 sixes for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Betfair
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