The 32nd and final group match of the Big Bash League season will be played on Monday when the Melbourne Renegades take on the Adelaide Strikers at Etihad Stadium.
You would think after 31 games all the issues that need sorting would be sorted by now but if you do think that then you are badly mistaken as for the home side there is everything on the line.
The Melbourne Renegades go into the match knowing they have to win and win big to secure a place in the semi-final. They need to win by either 38 runs or by chasing their target down inside 15.3 overs if they are to head to Adelaide in the semi on Thursday. Any other outcome and they are done for the season.
The Strikers know that win, lose or draw here they will finish on top of the table for the second straight season. Whether they face the Sydney Thunder at the Adelaide Oval on Thursday or the Renegades will be decided on the outcome of this match.
The Renegades were hoping to have James Pattinson fit for this match but he has been ruled out with injury. Aaron Finch and Matthew Wade remain away with Australia so the likes of Chris Gayle and Cameron White will be big players for the Renegades if they are to progress to the semis.
Adelaide have been without Kane Richardson for a while now and Mahela Jayawardena isn’t coming back for this game with it being largely a nothing game for the Strikers. Craig Simmons remains on the sidelines for Strikers as well.
This is one of those occasions we get at the end of league phases, which we’ve already had in this tournament too, where there is a game within a game. That makes betting on the match result more difficult because the Renegades will surely focus on their target rather than just winning the match.
The Renegades’ emotions will be like a balloon in this match. While their target is live they’ll be fine but the air could disappear quickly if they fail in their semi-final target and they might fail to win on the back of it so I can’t go near the match betting itself especially as it is a dead rubber for Adelaide.
The bet I like though is for the Renegades to hit the most sixes. Chris Gayle hasn’t really got going in this tournament but in this match he has freedom to swing from the hip, especially if the Renegades are chasing, in order to get the target needed within reach from the amount of balls they need to get home in.
Even if Gayle fails there is the likes of Cooper, White, Bravo and Beaton who can all biff a long ball so we have no doubts the Renegades can chase anything down, or at least have the firepower to. Adelaide have had a light batting line up all tournament with a fairly long tail and if the likes of Travis Head or Alex Ross do nothing spectacular it might be that Adelaide don’t hit many sixes.
We saw in Perth on Saturday that when there is nothing on the line and no intensity involved in a team that a poor performance can be the outcome and if that happens to Adelaide here I would expect the Renegades to have comfortably more sixes even if they don’t go on and win the game.
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