Two of the top teams in the Big Bash League will square off in the second game of the Tuesday night double header this week as the Sydney Thunder host the Melbourne Stars from Manuka Oval at 7.15pm. Mr. Cricket is back on deck to give you a full preview and betting tips for the clash below.
BBL10 Thunder vs Stars Betting Tips
Manuka Oval, Tuesday 7.15pm (AEDT)
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 Stars Squad: Glenn Maxwell (c), Hilton Cartwright, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Ben Dunk, Seb Gotch, Clint Hinchliffe, Nic Maddinson, Jonathan Merlo, Lance Morris, Tom O Connell, Will Pucovski, Billy Stanlake, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa
Match Prediction
The Stars were the hottest team in the competition coming into Saturday night’s clash against the Sixers. After the first innings, it looked as though they would remain that way as they fought back from a 4/49 start to post a mammoth total of 193 on the back of brilliant innings from Nicholas Pooran and Glenn Maxwell. They got off to a good start with the ball as well, but failure to execute late in the innings and an injury to Nathan Coulter-Nile allowed the Sixers to take 20 off the last over to win the game.
The Thunder also put a huge total in their last game, the biggest of the BBL10 season so far. Oliver Davies played a brilliant knock of 48 off just 23 balls as they piled on 209 off their 20 overs. They absolutely rolled through a poor Renegades side, taking all 10 wickets in just over 12 overs to record a comfortable win.
The Stars will be grateful to get Marcus Stoinis and Nic Maddinson back in the line-up for this clash after the pair missed the Sixers game. The addition of Stoinis at the top of the order in-particular gives the Stars a massive boost in an already star-studded batting line-up.
Extremely tough game to call here. The Stars start as slight favourites and although the Thunder have probably been in better form of late, it’s hard to look past Melbourne with those additions. The Stars have struggled with their international imports over the years but seem to have the right mix this season with Andre Fletcher, Nicholas Pooran and Zahir Khan. Look for Pooran to take the gloves on Tuesday night, allowing the Stars to drop the out of form Ben Dunk and Nick Larkin in favour of Stoinis and Maddinson. Shouldn’t lose with that side.
Thunder Prop Bet
I really like the way the Thunder batting line-up is set up at the moment. With Hales and Khawaja going hard at the top of the order, it only takes one of them to get going to get their team off to a really hot start. This allows skipper Callum Ferguson to guide the team through the middle overs before the bigger hitters come in at the end. This has resulted in Ferguson top scoring for the Thunder twice out of four games already this season, often getting to at least 30 before he even has to take a risk. Back the captain to top the Thunder runscorers again here.
Ferguson Top THU Runscorer
$4.50
Stars Prop Bet
He’s currently in the markets at Sportsbet and although I expect him to get dropped here, if Pooran doesn’t fancy wicket-keeping, then Ben Dunk will likely retain his spot. He passed 20 runs for the first time against the Sixers in what was still a really scratchy performance. His two innings before that produced just 22 total runs. I don’t think he is up to this standard anymore so his 20.5 run line seems high to me.
Dunk Under 20.5 Runs
$1.91
