The final round of tournament play starts on Monday night in the Big Bash League where the Sydney Thunder (7-6 27 points) take on the Adelaide Strikers (7-6 28 points) in a back to back fixture at the Adelaide Oval. These two teams played yesterday with the Strikers successfully defending 159 where runs have been plentiful in recent times. The match is a stand alone fixture on Monday night getting underway at 1915 AEDT.

 

Draftstars has put up a nice $20,000 contest with $2,184 to first. Look out for the mini, micro and stakes contests that are available in the lobby!

 

While it is a mathematical chance, the Strikers can make the top 2 for “The Qualifier” but is pretty unlikely with Scorchers and Sixers playing low ranked opponents on Tuesday. For the Thunder, there is a real chance that the Heat and Hurricanes can leapfrog the Sydney side and miss playoffs. Quite simply they would prefer to win to lock up 3rd. I was quite surprised that the conditions only produced 160 runs from the Strikers in the first innings yesterday. The oppressive hot weather could have been a factor, the bowling as well. But I am expecting much more runs in this evening game.

 

Currently the Thunder are slight favourites at $1.80 but could trend towards a coin flip at the start of the match. Adelaide has had some pretty hot weather and today’s forecast is very interesting. “Humid,  A slight (20%) chance of a light shower from late morning, increasing to a very high (90%) chance of rainfall this afternoon. Possible afternoon thunderstorms.” If this forecast holds true then we should be ok to start after the rain. We should know the game status come 1 hour before the match.

 

Can we take anything from the game yesterday? The answer is a little bit. All Strikers who got a start yesterday failed to make a big score so expect a better performance today. The Thunder pretty much lost that match chasing the bonus point so look for them to have a better mindset. The Thunder will be sweating on Nathan McAndrew’s hand injury he suffered while bowling. But barring any other mishaps, expect both sides to line up as named yesterday. 

 

Strikers Likely XI: Carey, Weatherald, Salt, Head, Renshaw, Gibson, Neser, Briggs, Agar, O’Connor, Siddle. 

 

Thunder Likely XI: Khawaja, Hales, Ferguson, Davies, Billings, Cutting, Green, McAndrew, Milne, Doggett, T Sangha  

 

Going to treat yesterday’s game as a bit of an anomaly with the amount of runs on the board, so I am not going to go crazy on bowlers chasing economy. The weather can make things interesting but I wouldn’t make it too much of a factor. This is going to be a cracker of game with much at stake.

 

 

Love It - Travis Head ($17,300)

 

In these big games you want to back in your experienced players and for the Strikers captain then he can be your first selection. 51 fantasy points yesterday at a healthy 36% ownership and I really like him here if the Strikers are chasing. 

 

Love It - Liam O’Connor ($11,300)

 

Since Rashid Khan left the side, O’Connor has been a suitable replacement at a low salary. 26, 68 and 39 fantasy point performances so far and that salary has remained pretty low. Expect his ownership to be a bit higher than 32% for tonight. A bit of risk if the match breaks out into a run party but worth it. 

 

Don’t Love It - Chris Green ($14,000)

 

Just out of form with the ball and resorted to bowl wide lines to the Strikers batsmen yesterday. Averaging 6 fantasy points from his last 3 games and still priced if he is 40/50FP player. An easy pass on this ground. 

 

Don’t Love It - Matt Renshaw ($12,100)

 

Could repeat what I said in yesterday’s preview. Actually I will! “No longer opening the batting and now playing that middle to lower order batsmen. Renshaw has had a pretty lean tournament for BBL10 with only 1 score over 50 fantasy points. Will require a collapse of the top order for Renshaw to face 10 overs and I cannot see that happen”. Still rings true. 

 

Who Knows - Winner of this Match

 

The Thunder have had a really good season but only 1 win their last 5 games have stalled their season. Where as the Strikers were expected to suffer with the departure of Rashid Khan. If you have a vibe on either team then look to stack both sides of the team, but I do not have a lean and who knows the winner here... 

 

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