The Big Bash League continues with one match in the competition on Friday as two teams in the top four in the table face off when the Sydney Thunder go up against the Perth Scorchers at the Sydney Showground Stadium.
Both these teams have had good campaigns so far with the defending champions having the better of it but the Thunder are a dangerous side on their day, although they do need to convince that they can cope with some big name departures.
Sydney Thunder
Five wins in nine matches is nothing special for the Sydney Thunder but at the same time it isn’t a disaster. They are fourth in the table and if they complete what would be a pretty unique double over the Perth Scorchers they will be in a perfectly good position to make the top four. Where the questions could come over the Thunder is that there is a little too much of an excellent or terrible look about them. They could do with being more competitive when not at their best.
The worrying thing for the Thunder would be that arguably their two worst performances have come on this ground, when they were skittled for 15 against the Adelaide Strikers and last time out against the Sydney Sixers where again they couldn’t get anything going with the bat. Dave Warner comes into the squad for the first time this season for this one and the Thunder will hope that revives a hit or miss batting unit. They’re not doing much wrong with the ball.
Perth Scorchers
The Perth Scorchers have rebounded from that home loss to the Sydney Thunder nine days ago in the way you would expect a champion side to do. They have come out and won two matches incredibly comfortably and although both were against a Brisbane Heat side who are flattering to deceive, the ruthless nature of their wins will bode very well for them. They have moved the Scorchers back to the top of the table and they will be looking to push on here.
Perth have won those matches without their gun bowler Jhye Richardson. They have had to do a bit of rejigging to their side in recent games with their overseas opening pair having departed the scene. I always think it is the sign of a good team when they can cope with big players leaving and the ones who come in step up so things can carry on as normal. The Scorchers have a method which works and that appears to be the case once again.
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Key Players
All eyes will be on Dave Warner here to see if one of the best T20 players in the world can light up his domestic competition after a lengthy period without playing it. He was in decent touch in the recent Test series so certainly isn’t lacking form heading in here.
Josh Inglis didn’t get the nod in the recent Test squad announced for the tour of India so he needs to keep catching the eye if he is to push for greater honours. He smashed an unbeaten 67 last time out at The Gabba and if he keeps that form he could go big again.
Betting
I don’t think this is the easiest match to bet on. If we look at what has gone here already then you would expect something in the pitch and a low scoring match but that is so out of touch with what we usually get on this ground that I’m a little concerned that we’ll finally get a good wicket here in which all the lines get blown out of the water by two aggressive batting units. At the same time if we get another wicket where the bowlers are in the game anything could happen.
With that in mind, I’m largely going to keep my powder dry but the 8/1 on Alex Ross to top score for the Sydney Thunder feels a little big. He has been second in the last two matches and looks to be hitting the ball quite nicely. In the reverse meeting between these two Ollie Davies got going and Ross couldn’t catch him but we’ve seen batters who go hard at the ball struggle here. In the last game Sam Whiteman got a few too many but with the quality of this Scorchers new ball attack it might be that a middle order player comes in to pick up the pieces and Ross is overpriced to be that man.
Tips
Back A.Ross Top Sydney Thunder Batter for a 1/10 stake at 9.00 with William Hill
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