With the presents opened and the turkey consumed the Big Bash League returns with a double header of action on Boxing Day, one which begins with the Sydney Sixers taking on the Melbourne Stars at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
These two teams both sit outside the top five going into the match and although we are still fairly early in the campaign they will both be looking to pick up a win here which moves them into the finals spot and eases the pressure on them for future matches.
Sydney Sixers
The Sydney Sixers came out of the traps a little slowly this season, which is a surprise given that in the last three campaigns they have gone W-W-RU. While keeping a settled squad and the same one together can be a help, over a large period of time things can become a little stale and you wonder if that is what is happening to the Sixers. They do go into this one off the back of a win though and have something to build on in that regard.
The Sixers just haven’t come to the party with the bat so far, although there were signs of that happening in the latest match. Whether that was just because the match was restricted to 14 overs and there was less threat of them getting bowled out we might only find out here but nevertheless it was encouraging. Their bowling nearly threw a good position away in that win over the Hobart Hurricanes but they got home in the end.
Melbourne Stars
The Melbourne Stars have a win and two losses form their opening three matches of the season. They probably should have won the opening match but they were well beaten in the last of those games by the Perth Scorchers in a match where they got taken to the cleaners. To be fair to the Stars, they plugged away in that game even though they were chasing a lost cause from a pretty early stage.
It goes without saying that they have to bowl better if they are going to get anywhere in this tournament but we saw in the opening two games, especially the first one, that they have that in their locker. There is still more to come from them with the bat too which will encourage them because surely the likes of Marcus Stoinis will have to come good soon. If it all clicks there could be the makings of a decent side within the Stars.
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Key Players
The Melbourne Stars haven’t offered too much up top with the ball in this competition so Josh Philippe could be a key player for the Sydney Sixers. He got them off to a great start in the previous game and something similar here wouldn’t go astray.
Given the reputation he has the return offered up by Marcus Stoinis so far in this tournament has not been what was expected and it is about time he comes to the party for the Melbourne Stars. He has scored four runs in three innings and taking 1/48 in his only bowling effort. He is a lot better than that.
Betting
We are around a week or so away from the New Year’s Test match taking place on this ground and so the preparations for that wicket is likely to be underway already which means we could be on the edge of the square for this encounter. That makes me think we are going to get a number of sixes in this match. We saw these boundaries peppered throughout the T20 World Cup and there were a dozen sixes in a reduced overs game here last week.
The sixes line for this match is at 9.5 which looks very much on the low side when you consider who is batting for us here. In many ways it isn’t who is batting for us but who is bowling here because both of these attacks went around the park in their last match. Melbourne Stars got taken to the cleaners at the Junction Oval while the Sydney Sixers just got away with it when faced with a blitz from Asif Ali. If there is a short boundary here then with the straight ones accessible too we should see double figures for balls flying into the crowd.
Tips
Back Over 9.5 sixes for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with William Hill
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