Before You Bet is on an absolute heater in BBL11 so far, hitting on 5/6 tips so far. We’ll be hoping to continue that good patch of form as we look towards the Friday night clash in the Big Bash League, which sees the Melbourne Stars taking on the Sydney Thunder from 7.15pm at the MCG.
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BBL11 Stars vs Thunder Betting Tips
MCG, Friday December 10th, 7.15pm (AEDT)
Melbourne Stars
Predicted XI: Marcus Stoinis, Joe Clarke, Nick Larkin, Glenn Maxwell, Hilton Cartwright, Andre Russel, Beau Webster, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Sam Elliot, Qais Ahmad, Adam Zampa
The Stars are coming off the biggest defeat in BBL history, going down to the Sixers on night one of the Big Bash League by a whopping 152 runs. They will be desperate to bounce back and their squad inclusions heading into this one certainly suggest they will have the firepower to do so.
Stars stalwarts Marcus Stoinis and Nathan Coulter-Nile return to bolster the line-up but the headline is of course, West Indian star Andre Russel, who has signed on with the Stars and will make his debut tonight. Afghani leg spinner Qais Ahmad could also make his debut for the Stars Friday night. The four inclusions give the Stars a completely different look from top to bottom, and this is what we envisioned their team looking like when we tipped them to finish 3rd on the BBL11 table.
Sydney Thunder
Predicted XI: Alex Hales, Sam Whiteman, Matt Gilkes, Sam Billings, Alex Ross, Daniel Sams, Ben Cutting, Nathan McAndrew, Chris Green, Gurinder Sandhu, Tanveer Sangha
The Thunder got their BBL11 season off to a good start on Monday night as they chased down the Brisbane Heat’s 140 with 17 balls to spare. Sam Billings and Alex Ross were fantastic in the win, combining for a 100+ run 4th wicket partnership.
On the bowling front, it was pacemen Gurinder Sandhu and Daniel Sams that were the pick of the bunch, picking up five wickets between them and each going at an economy rate of under 6.0. After a dominant win tin their opening game, I don’t expect the Thunder to make any changes to their line-up here.
Match Prediction
Absolutely love the Stars to bounce back here. The outfit that will walk onto the MCG on Friday night will feel like a completely different team to the one that was dominated by the Sixers a few nights ago. Stoinis has been the premier batsman in the competition for the better part of three years, Andre Russel is arguably the best T20 player in the world while Ahmad and Coulter-Nile add much needed depth to push out some of the fringe players.
The Thunder are certainly a talented outfit that is capable of winning on any given night but I think the Stars are the hungrier dog here after a night one loss, and the hungry dog runs faster.
Melbourne Stars H2H
$1.75
Same Game Multi
Love the value of Marcus Stoinis to hit a six in this clash. The hard-hitting opener hit at least one in over half of his BBL games last season and in his last 11 T20 innings dating back through the IPL and T20 World Cup, he has smashed 18 sixes. Combine that with him to score at least 10 runs and we have the basis of a nice SGM.
Our third leg is going to be the first wicket of the match to be caught. Have loved this leg so far this season, with it hitting in all but one game whilst catches have made up around 75% of all wickets in the BBL so far.
Stoinis 10+ Runs
Stoinis 1+ Six
First Dismissal – Caught
STA vs THU Same Game Multi
$2.87
