The Hobart Hurricanes host the winless Melbourne Renegades in a Christmas Eve match where both teams will hope to build on their fairly lacklustre starts to the BBL09 season. The action kicks off at 2:45pm local time on Tuesday afternoon.
The Hurricanes have one win and one loss from their opening two games. While their bowling has been quite good, their batting has failed them so far as they have been unable to post a score of 130 or above in either game.
The Renegades will be incredibly disappointed with their 0/2 start to their season, and opposite to the Hurricanes, have had their bowling fail them so far, with their opposition posting two 170+ scores.
Hobart Hurricanes squad (13): Ben McDermott (c), Qais Ahmad, George Bailey, Nathan Ellis, James Faulkner, Caleb Jewell, Riley Meredith, Simon Milenko, David Miller, Tom Rogers, Clive Rose, D’Arcy Short, Mac Wright
Melbourne Renegades squad (13): Aaron Finch (c), Cameron Boyce, Dan Christian, Tom Cooper, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Richard Gleeson, Harry Gurney, Sam Harper, Marcus Harris, Shaun Marsh, Kane Richardson, Beau Webster, Jack Wildermuth
Hurricanes
The Hurricanes have some serious issues to sort out in their batting line-up. D’arcy Short, however, has looked in good form posting 51 off 40 balls against the Sixers in their season opener. His run a ball nine against the Stars isn’t any real cause for concern and a good performance is again on the cards against the Renegades. He has averaged over 40 in his BBL career and that shows his quality over what is now his 5th BBL season. With the lack of form batsmen in the Hurricanes line up it is likely he will be patient and play himself in before exploding late.
D’arcy Short most runs Hurricanes
$3.10
Renegades
Batsmen Marcus Harris and Jake Fraser-McGurk come into the squad for Will Sutherland and Tom Andrews for the Renegades. Marcus Harris is a proven batsman that will bolster the Renegades batting attack here and they have plenty of big hitters in their squad. I like the Renegades to get the most match sixes as they have managed 5 and 9 in their opening two games. Hobart in comparison have hit 2 and 3 sixes in their two games and all three sixes in their last game came from the bat of Clive Rose when the game was virtually over.
Renegades most match sixes
$1.90
Prediction
D’arcy Short has looked in good form for the Hurricanes but apart from him, they have really struggled to have anyone else put together much of a score. The Renegades on the other hand have put up big scores in back-to-back matches and even though they have lost both, they will be sure to focus on tightening up their bowling here. The Renegades look a fantastic play here as the Hurricanes have struggled so far and will find it hard to contain the Renegades batting line up. Sam Harper, Aaron Finch, Shaun March, Tom Cooper, Beau Webster and Marcus Harris all have potential to post big scores and all the Renegades will need is for a couple to be on their game to put together a big enough score to earn the win here.
