There is the one match in the Big Bash League on Thursday and it sees two teams who aren’t in the position they want to be in battling it out when the Adelaide Strikers play host to the Hobart Hurricanes at the Adelaide Oval.
These two teams met as recently as Monday in Hobart where the Hurricanes ran out convincing winners and they’ll be looking to reaffirm their dominance here while the Strikers will be looking to bounce back on home soil.
Adelaide Strikers
The Adelaide Strikers flew out of the traps this season and that was a positive because they were always going to finish the campaign strongly when the two Test stars come back next week. Their original task was always to stay relevant in the first half of the campaign and then ride the extra quality that will come their way in the second part of it. Although they have now lost four on the trot to undo their good start, a win here will have them nicely placed for when Alex Carey and Travis Head return.
The problem for the Strikers in this four-match losing streak is their bowling has come apart at the seams so it certainly isn’t ideal that this will be the last game of the season for Rashid Khan. They have to get back to bowling like they were when they began the season and if they do then there is no reason why they won’t climb the table again because they are batting well at the minute and have reinforcements to come next week.
Hobart Hurricanes
This has been a mysteriously slow start to the campaign for the Hobart Hurricanes. You only have to look down their squad list to know that they should be right up at the top of the table so three wins and three defeats from their opening six matches really isn’t where they should be. They showed signs of what they are capable of with their win over Adelaide on Monday and will be looking to further reinforce that in this match.
We saw a really good batting display on Monday and that is important because the Hurricanes should be imposing themselves on teams with the bat. They have a top six which is the envy of every team in the league and it is about time they showed some more of that power. Their bowling probably hasn’t been where they would have wanted it to be. Some of that might be down to the batting woes but now there shouldn’t be any excuses.
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Key Players
This is the final match of the season for Rashid Khan and the Afghanistan great will want to leave the Adelaide Oval with a big performance. We can expect him to be at his most attacking with the ball and potentially with the bat too.
Ben McDermott showed why the Hobart Hurricanes have missed him in the matches he missed recently with a powerful 50 upon his return on Monday. He is a huge hitter square of the wicket and these boundaries are perfect for him to attack.
Betting
We saw a huge number of boundaries when these two met on Monday and I expect no different here in Adelaide. We saw on New Year’s Eve that the pitch here is playing really nicely and although the square boundaries are the ones to get after, the straight boundaries aren’t right the way back so players will be able to hit the ball down the ground and get some joy as well, especially when you consider the power batters that are on show in this match.
Hobart have a top six who are all big hitters of a cricket ball and there are no shortage of them in the Adelaide ranks either so I really expect the runs to flow in this one, not least because the Hurricanes haven’t really hit their straps with the ball and are often guilty of bowling too short which is a cardinal sin here. Adelaide have weakened by the match with the ball so I expect the batters to shine here and clear a 35.5 boundaries line.
Tips
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