The Big Bash League heads to the Sydney Cricket Ground for the first time this season on Thursday when the Sydney Sixers go in search of their first win of the campaign when they play host to the Hobart Hurricanes.
The Sixers have played two matches this season and haven’t won either of them, although it might be that they’ve lost to the two best teams in the competition. They take on another of the leading sides here in the Hurricanes who will be eyeing up a second straight win.
Sydney Sixers
We are not used to the Sydney Sixers making a slow start to the Big Bash League campaign and the last thing they will want to do is make it three defeats on the trot. You would have to say that they have been pretty convincingly beaten in their opening two games and although they have played two of the better teams in the competition, the fact they failed to land a blow on either will be a concern. They face another top team here so will need to rise to the occasion.
If there is a positive for the Sixers then it comes in the form of knowing that it is with the bat that they have had issues. That isn’t to say they have been brilliant because they haven’t but they have been a lot worse with the bat. I don’t think splitting up the successful opening partnership from the last few seasons is working and it might be that they address that before it is too late. Their top order looks short of runs so it could be time to get Daniel Hughes in somewhere.
Hobart Hurricanes
The Hobart Hurricanes weren’t at their best in the previous match against the Perth Scorchers but any win over the defending champions is a good one and they will be looking to build on that here. There is a lot more to come from the Hurricanes in all departments but I think we’re all waiting for them to really explode with the bat. A couple of their home international players started to catch fire against the Scorchers but there is a lot more to come from them as a unit.
We haven’t seen the best of the Hurricanes with the ball but there were signs against Perth that they are getting there. The one thing we did see in that match is that their death bowling is beginning to come to the fore. There was still one or two sloppy moments in the field and a couple of overs which went the distance when they shouldn’t have done but in the main it was a much better performance from their first one and if there is a similar level of improvement for this then they are going to be tough to beat.
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Key Players
With the Sixers batting still working things out you sense they are going to need their bowlers to step up to the plate here. Naveen-ul-Haq made his Sixers debut against Perth and took 1/33. We can expect an improvement from him here.
Ben McDermott hasn’t really got going yet but he’s too good to be shackled for too much longer and if the Sixers don’t get stuck into him with the new ball then they’ll soon find out this ground isn’t big enough to contain him.
Betting
We saw at the T20 World Cup that the Sydney Cricket Ground is a high scoring one where the boundaries can be peppered and with a Test match here in a couple of weeks the pitches should be in excellent conditions so I’m expecting no difference here. Matches between these two sides tend to be high scoring and when you consider that the Sixers bowling hasn’t really caught fire yet I see no reason why that won’t be the case again here.
The one concern is the Sixers batting which hasn’t gone to plan yet and although I think they’ll bat better on their home ground, I’d rather go with the boundaries which has a low line at 34.5 rather than the runs as at least then if Hobart bat first they could pile up the boundaries leaving just a few needed for Sydney to get rather than them needing upwards of say 140 runs or something. There were 47 boundaries when these two met last season and I expect 35 more here.
Tips
Back Over 34.5 boundaries for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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