We are back to one match in the Big Bash League 2021-22 on Sunday and it sees the Sydney Thunder looking for another victory when they play host to a Melbourne Stars side who probably mean business given their additions this week.
These two sides sit in the bottom half of the table at the outset of this match but a win for the Thunder will take them top of the pile while a Stars win will move them into the playoff places so there is no shortage of incentive for either team.
Sydney Thunder
The Sydney Thunder have a win and a loss to their name this season and they will be looking to turn their ledger into a positive one. They eased past the Brisbane Heat in their opening match but then couldn’t get over the line against the Melbourne Stars in the reverse meeting between these two on Friday. It wasn’t the worst performance from the Thunder but they weren’t at their best in the key moments and that is something that will disappoint them.
They looked to be in control of the contest early on but they couldn’t wrestle the momentum back in their bowling innings after the power surge and like so many do they wilted at the feet of Andre Russell at the end of the innings. They then couldn’t quite finish their innings off as powerfully as they would have liked and in the end lost by four runs. They just need to tidy up their performance at the end of both innings and they would have a good chance of overturning that loss.
Melbourne Stars
I think we can safely say that the Melbourne Stars’ season started in that reverse game against the Sydney Thunder. We can forget their display in that opening match because they were without so many key players. They were still missing one or two for the match against the Thunder on Friday but they were a lot stronger in makeup and you would imagine they will only improve as those players who returned on Friday get more cricket under their belts.
I think they could still find something with the ball between now and the end of the competition but the batting unit looks very strong and if they ever fire in the same innings they are going to run up some huge scores. They have batters who can bat through the innings with power from the top and then they have finishers the like of which some teams can only dream of. This Sydney Showground Stadium should suit them very nicely too.
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Team News
Sydney Thunder are still without Usman Khawaja who is with Australia A once again so unless they want to use the services of someone like Arjun Nair then the home side are likely to name an unchanged XI here.
The Melbourne Stars have named an unchanged squad for this match and unless there is a late injury or illness issue the likes of Beau Webster and Peter Nevill will need to wait for their chance to shine.
Betting
When these two met at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday I took under 32.5 boundaries because they were playing at one of the biggest grounds in world cricket. The two didn’t exactly play out a massively high scoring game but there were 32 boundaries in the match so you would think with the shorter dimensions here and a pitch which we know is playing better than I originally thought it might be, that we are going to see more boundaries here.
When you consider that Glenn Maxwell didn’t hit a single boundary in that match and between them Alex Hales and Andre Russell only faced 19 balls, there is clearly potential for more boundaries to come along readily. Despite all that, the boundary line has only gone up to 33.5 here and I’ve got to think that two more will come along in this second meeting between the two than the first one. We saw the second meeting between the Sydney Sixers and the Hobart Hurricanes be much higher scoring than the first one. I expect similar here which should yield the extra boundaries.
Tips
Back Over 33.5 boundaries for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with William Hill
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