The Big Bash League is heading towards the business end of the regular season and we get closer to that with one more match in the tournament on Tuesday as the Adelaide Strikers take on the Melbourne Renegades at the iconic Adelaide Oval.
These two teams start the day in the top five which is where they want to be so this is all about enhancing their position and strengthening their claims for a place in the finals and a win here would serve whoever gets it very well.
Adelaide Strikers
It looked like the Adelaide Strikers were going to blaze a trail in this competition when they won their opening three matches but things have stuttered and hit the skids since then. In their last five matches they have picked up just the one win and really could do with a victory here, not just to take their ledger to five wins and four losses, but also for confidence heading into the closing part of the regular season.
We have said all along that the primary aim is to remain competitive and be in contention when their two Test stars come back into the fold and whatever happens here that is going to have happened because they are back in two games time. Where Adelaide could be vulnerable in this match is that a bowling attack which has been very expensive in recent outings will have to do without Rashid Khan who has left for the SA20 competition. That puts more emphasis on the batting.
Melbourne Renegades
After three quite frankly appalling seasons anything was going to be better for the Melbourne Renegades this term, but actually they are putting a decent campaign together and head to Adelaide with five wins and four losses from their nine matches. They were also flying with three wins to open the campaign with and while things haven’t been quite as fluent since then, they come in here off of successive wins, albeit over the Melbourne Stars and the Hobart Hurricanes.
The good thing for the Renegades is they have found their batting in recent times. They needed to do that not just because they were losing without it but because their two spin twins were departing the tournament this week. Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Akeal Hosein have now left and while they have found two spinners to replace them, those two bowlers are entitled to take a game or two to get up to speed. The Renegades haven’t been helped by injuries in recent times either.
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Key Players
There is probably no more important player in the competition right now than Matt Short. He sits second in the run list and has seven wickets to his name as well. Add in that he has taken the captaincy while Peter Siddle has been injured and he is key for the home side.
We have seen that the early stages of an Adelaide Strikers bowling innings dictates how the whole 20 overs go. If you get after it early doors it keeps going round the park but if they get on top of you they don’t relent so a fast start from Martin Guptill will be very useful for the Melbourne Renegades.
Betting
I think with both bowling attacks haven’t lost top class spinners who didn’t just bowl four decent overs but often bowled them in the power play or the power surge, both batting units should be able to relax a little here and get stuck in. We’ve seen all summer that the pitches at the Adelaide Oval are just a joy for batting and it wouldn’t make sense for anything to have changed here when you consider that right now Adelaide look a distance better with the bat than the ball.
It isn’t just the Strikers who are looking good with the bat though. The Melbourne Renegades are coming back to the party with the bat even in the absence of Shaun Marsh. They have signed Matt Critchley which adds depth to their batting but there is still a glaring hole with the ball. We know how short these boundaries are square but they haven’t been that far back straight either and I expect these batting units to get stuck in. The sixes line here is 10.5 which looks low when the last match on this ground had 24 of the things and the one before it saw a dozen clear the ropes. I’ll play the over here.
Tips
Back Over 10.5 sixes for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with BetVictor
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