The Big Bash League continues on Wednesday with two sides who have made acceptable starts to the season meeting at the Sydney Cricket Ground when the Sydney Sixers play host to the Melbourne Renegades.
The Sydney Sixers have two wins from their opening four matches as they look to get their title back while the Melbourne Renegades have three wins from four and should they come out on top here they will go into top spot.
Sydney Sixers
The Sydney Sixers made a slow start to the season with a couple of opening defeats but they have won successive matches since then to level up their ledger heading into what is their penultimate game of 2022. The Sixers have seen off the Hobart Hurricanes in a shortened game and the Stars in a full match and should be starting to build some confidence heading into this one. We know the Sixers are one of the better teams in the league having gone champions, champions and finalists in the last three campaigns.
I still don’t think we’ve seen the best of the Sixers, especially with the bat. Their score of 151/3 against the Stars last time out was their highest of the season but they got to that target in the final over so you wouldn’t think they would have gone too far past 160 and usually that is the benchmark to win matches. The Sixers are starting to get the job done with the ball though which is generally the strength of this side so that is a positive.
Melbourne Renegades
The Melbourne Renegades saw their unbeaten start to the season ended last time out when they came up short in a run chase against the Hobart Hurricanes. Losing to the Hurricanes isn’t a bad result per se, but where it would have disappointed them is the fact that they were only chasing 122 and didn’t give off the impression that they were going to get close. The eight run margin of defeat was probably the closest they were going to get as some late hitting got them there.
They need to shake that performance off and get back to doing what they were doing in the earlier part of the season. They will need to do it without Andre Russell too because he has left now. Martin Guptill has arrived and the Renegades have three experienced players in their squad who missed that defeat last time out in Shaun Marsh, Peter Handscomb and Kane Richardson so they look a lot stronger on paper even without the West Indian firecracker.
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Key Players
Moises Henriques guided the Sydney Sixers home in the last game with a wonderfully paced innings in the run chase. He is the sort of calm head who comes up good when his team need him the most and he might be needed here.
Shaun Marsh has a brilliant T20 record across the world and he is playing his first match of the season here. The Renegades have shifted Sam Harper out of the opening position to allow Marsh to try and dominate from the off.
Betting
I’ll go with a couple of bets over the course of the match. The first of those is for the Melbourne Renegades to beat the Sydney Sixers. I think the difference here could be the two spinners which the Renegades use in the initial powerplay. Not only are they hard to get away but it means that the seamers can bowl at the death overs when hopefully the tail are in and backing away leaving the stumps exposed. I’m still not convinced this Sixers team is firing on all cylinders, especially with the bat and if they do get bogged down early on they might just lack the power to catch up. With Shaun Marsh, Peter Handscomb and Kane Richardson all back to join a team that has Aaron Finch, Martin Guptill, Akeal Hosein and Mujeeb in it, the Renegades look a good side and might be overpriced at even money.
I’ll also have a small bet on Jordan Silk to be the top scorer for the Sydney Sixers. As I’ve mentioned already, there is likely to be four overs of spin up top from the Renegades and we know that Sydney is a ground where some turn is available so it wouldn’t be a complete surprise if the Sixers’ top order undergoes a few struggles. If they do then they will need someone like Jordan Silk in the middle and back end of the innings to come up with the goods. Silk is very underrated in my eyes and he has started the season well. He has scored 36, 41, 0 and 30*. The 0 was in that shortened game when he had to sacrifice his wicket. There won’t be no shortening of the overs here so the 8/1 on Silk to top score looks big to me.
Tips
Back Melbourne Renegades to beat Sydney Sixers for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with William Hill
Back them here:
Back J.Silk Top Sydney Sixers Batter for a 1/10 stake at 9.00 with BetVictor
Back him here:
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