The Melbourne Cricket Ground stages the Big Bash League for the first time this season on Friday when the Melbourne Stars take on the Sydney Thunder in the latest game of the relatively new campaign.
These two had very different outcomes in their first outings earlier in the week with the Stars thrashed by the Sixers and the Thunder overcoming the challenge of the Heat and it will be interesting to see whether that form holds up or there is a change in fortunes.
Melbourne Stars
I mentioned ahead of their opening match that the squad the Melbourne Stars named was among the weaker I have ever seen from them but that isn’t the case for this one. A number of star players are back and there is also an eye catching overseas signing in the squad as well so you would imagine we will see a much better performance from the men in green here. Whether we see the best of them remains to be seen because players coming in have been cold for a while but things look a little better for the Stars.
The big issue for the Stars is that they were terrible in both main disciplines in the first match. Their bowling attack never looked good enough anyway but it probably still shouldn’t have gone for more than 200 and then their batters never looked in the game in the run chase. I think it would be fair to expect a number of changes in this match and an infinitely better performance with more experienced players doing the business.
Sydney Thunder
The Sydney Thunder weren’t perfect in their opening match but you wouldn’t expect a team to be that in their first game. The performance they delivered was perfectly good enough to pick up a victory though and as improvement comes naturally they will be harder to beat. The Thunder tend to start seasons strongly but then they tend to find the going tougher towards the end of a season so it would be no surprise if the Thunder Nation are celebrating here.
The bowlers did much of the job for the Thunder in that first game and although they weren’t chasing the biggest score the batters got them over the line with plenty to spare even though the top three didn’t really get going. You would think there is enough talent in that top three to come good soon so there is natural improvement in the Thunder. If there is any in their bowling department then they are in decent shape.
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Team News
Melbourne Stars will ring the changes in this match. Andre Russell and Qais Ahmad are now available as overseas players and they are expected to play while Nathan Coulter-Nile is in the squad as well. Marcus Stoinis has been named in the squad too although the vibe was that he might need a few more days before he is fit enough to play.
Sydney Thunder have made one change to their squad with Lachlan Hearne replacing Ollie Davies who is away at present. They are expected to go in with an unchanged starting XI though with Usman Khawaja with Australia A.
Betting
There has been a fair bit of rain around Melbourne recently and more in the lead up to this match so I’m not expecting the greatest of batting conditions in this match. We already knew that this ground is a huge playing area but when you add in the rain and the moist conditions getting the ball to the boundary is going to take a fair bit. That makes me think the best bet in this match is for there to be under 32.5 boundaries.
The Sydney Thunder only conceded 13 boundaries to the Brisbane Heat on a good pitch in Canberra in their opening match and although the Stars went round the park they bring three or four senior bowlers into their ranks for this match which is important. I don’t see this being an easy pitch to bat on and when you consider we have a couple of competent bowling attacks on show here the likelihood is that runs will have to be run rather than collected in boundaries.
Tips
Back Under 32.5 boundaries for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with William Hill
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