The Big Bash League continues on Saturday with another double header of action, one which begins with the defending champions Sydney Sixers hosting the Hobart Hurricanes in what should be a cracking contest at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
These two have already met this season when the Sixers edged out the Hurricanes on Wednesday and this rapid reverse fixture sees both teams looking for the points which will enhance their position in the table.
Sydney Sixers
The Sydney Sixers already look like they might be the team to beat in this competition. They have won a contest they completely dominated this term and they have won a much closer battle as well. They have won when they have blazed an early trail and they have come out on top in a match where they were sluggish out of the blocks. That is often the sign of a good side and having won this competition for the past two seasons the Sixers are already looking ominous for the rest.
The positive thing for the Sixers is they have won a match through the quality of their batsmen and then they have won one through their bowlers coming to the party when they didn’t have the greatest score on the board. When all factors of a side are working this early in the competition there can be nothing better for a franchise. The trick for the Sixers now is maintaining the intensity and looking to really dominate from here on in.
Hobart Hurricanes
The Hobart Hurricanes will be disappointed not to get over the line in that opening match. They had the Sydney Sixers in all sorts of bother in the opening 10 overs of their bowling innings but they let them get away and post a dangerous enough score. With the bat it took them too long to get going and by the time they found their feet with the bat the required ask was a little too much and they ended up losing a match they should have won.
There will be pressure on the openers to get them off to a more positive start here. That is a delicate balancing act though in fairness because this isn’t the deepest Hobart batting unit. The concern from the first game is they only played four bowlers due to players being away. They get a bowler back for this one though so we should see them better balanced as a team and if one of the all-rounders can come to the party with the bat it would certainly help them.
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Team News
Sean Abbott missed the win in Hobart but he is named in the squad for this match. It remains to be seen whether he is available but Ben Dwarshuis is in the named party and could play his first match of the season. Hayden Kerr could be the one to make way for one of them.
Hobart Hurricanes can call upon the services of their overseas player Jordan Thompson after he has come through his quarantine. He comes into the squad in place of Jordan Cox so Tom Lammonby is still in the squad while Harry Brook remains with the England Lions.
Betting
Much like a lot of Australia, there has been a lot of rain in the Sydney area recently so I’m not convinced conditions will be ideal for this match. We saw the Sixers explode on this ground last weekend but we should remember that the Melbourne Stars side that night resembled a third team rather than a usual Big Bash side with the amount of players they were missing. I think the innings in that match were freaks.
I do think it will be tough to bat here and both bowling units have the required bowlers to cause problems to the batters. The outfield was pretty slow in that first match here and it isn’t going to have got any quicker with the rain that has been around so all runs that come in this match will need to be earned and potentially all run rather than relying on a host of boundaries. That makes me think something in the region of 150 will be a good score so I like under 318.5 runs in this one.
Tips
Back Under 318.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Betway
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