The Boxing Day cricket marathon continues as the Thunder host the Renegades in Canberra! The Thunder have got their season back on track with back-to-back wins, whilst the Renegades are on a two game slide after losses to the Sixers and Hurricanes. The Renegades will be looking to get a win to get themselves back into the hunt, as the Thunder look to secure their spot in the top five. See our full preview and betting tips for Saturday night’s clash below.
BBL10 Sydney Thunder vs Melbourne Renegades Betting Tips
Manuka Oval, Saturday 26 December, 6:10pm
Sydney Thunder Squad: Callum Ferguson, Jonathan Cook, Ben Cutting, Ollie Davies, Brendan Doggett, Matt Gilkes, Chris Green, Alex Hales, Baxter Holt, Usman Khawaja, Nathan McAndrew, Adam Milne, Arjun Nair, Alex Ross, Daniel Sams, Jason Sangha, Tanveer Sangha, Chris Tremain
Melbourne Renegades Squad: Shaun Marsh, Brody Couch, Zak Evans, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Sam Harper, Mackenzie Harvey, Peter Hatzoglou, Jon Hol, Josh Lalor, Mohammad Nabi, Noor Ahmad, Mitch Perry, Jack Prestwidge, Kane Richardson, Rilee Rossouw, Will Sutherland, Beau Webster
Match Prediction
Across the history of the BBL this is one of the most lop-sided head to head matchups. The Renegades have beaten the Thunder nine out of the eleven times they have met. Last season the Renegades were 0-9 before picking up their first win against the Thunder, no matter where these teams are on the table, the Renegades seem to have the Thunder covered.
The Renegades have shown enough with the bat this season, they just need to put it together with the ball. The Renegades knocked over the Scorchers for 130 in their first game, but since then conceded 205 against the Sixers and 161 in 17 overs against the Hurricanes. If there is a batting line up that could allow a return to form for the Renegades bowlers, it’d be the Thunder who have three all rounders in their top seven.
Young mystery spinner Noor Ahmad had a promising debut, taking 1/27. The Thunder have struggled against spin, so Ahmad will have a big role to play on Saturday night, especially when bowling under lights. The Thunder have looked scratchy even in their wins so far, and the Renegades are building towards genuine consistency with bat and ball. The Renegades have never lost in Canberra, expect the Renegades to get their season back on track with a crucial victory.
Thunder Prop Bet
Whilst Alex Hales has struggled so far this season with back to back ducks in his last two games, he did anything but struggle against the Renegades last season. Hales scored 31 and 68 in his two matches against the Renegades in BBL09.
Whilst Hales has had a tough stretch, you only have to look back to last season where he scored 576 runs at an average of 38 with a strike rate of 146. Hales is a proven T20 performer and is due to bounce back after two poor outings. The Renegades bowlers have leaked nearly ten runs an over in their past two games, Hales will have plenty of opportunities to get back in form.
Hales Top THU Runscorer
$3.75
Renegades Prop Bet
Noor Ahmad was the pick of the Renegades bowlers against the Hurricanes taking 1/27 off his four overs, including the big wicket of Peter Handscomb. Ahmad’s ability to spin the ball both ways will cause the Thunder plenty of troubles.
Spin bowlers were the leading wicket takers against the Thunder on six occasions last season, and Adam Zampa exposed the Thunder’s deficiency against spin bowling in their first game of the season. The left arm wrist spin of Ahmad will be tough for the Thunder to pick under lights, especially given they won’t have seen much of him before. Expect the Afghan youngster to wreak havoc in Canberra.
Ahmad Top REN Wicket Taker
$4.50
