Hobart Hurricanes (0-0) vs Sydney Sixers (0-0)
Thu 10 Dec 2020 @ Blundstone Arena, Hobart
The Hurricanes begin their quest for a maiden BBL title this Thursday night as they host the Sixers. With the first part of the season being played in a Tasmanian bubble, the ‘Canes really need to take advantage of the situation and that starts with a good first up performance. While they will miss the services of Matty Wade atop the batting, they’ve recruited some firepower with Ingram and Will Jacks. They should also get Short back from the T20 series against India. Not to mention, Ben McDermott smashed 96 off just 49 in a practice match against the Sixers on Tuesday. Bowling wise, the addition of Johan Botha also gives them more experience around the park and a solid spin option along with their pace bowling stocks.
Sydney will start their BBL title defence with a massive blow as Tom Curran will miss this year’s edition due to fatigue. Last season, he finished 2nd in the league for wickets taken (22) and was always handy with the bat in the late overs. So the pressure will be on Abbott and Dwarshuis to pick up the slack in the death overs. While in the batting department, the key will be getting off to a good start with the likes of Philippe and Vince. Hopefully Moises Henriques can lineup as well after playing against India.
The Sixers will take confidence out of their final over win over the ‘Canes in Tuesday’s practice match. However, the home side will likely welcome back D’Arcy Short into lineup and as mentioned, Curran is a big out for the Sixers. So we’ll be backing the ‘Canes to start the season with a close win as they hold a solid winning record at this venue and against the Sixers.
Stadium Record
Hobart went 2-2 at this venue last season. Sydney are 2-3 here since 2011.
Head to Head Record
Hurricanes are 6-5 against the Sixers and bowled them out for 104 in last year’s meeting.
Best Bet
Melbourne Stars (0-0) vs Brisbane Heat (0-0)
Fri 11 Dec 2020 @ Manuka Oval, Canberra
Melbourne will look to put the disappointment of back to back Grand Final defeats behind them as they enter BBL10. Firstly, they’ll need to get used to this Canberra wicket with consecutive home games against the Heat/Thunder. It also won’t be an easy start to BBL10 with Marcus Stoinis likely missing for a few games with injury. He led BBL09 with 705 runs so the likes of Maxwell will need to fill the gap in the batting department. Their bowling lineup does look a bit suspect without the likes of Rauf, Worrall and Lamichhane. But they will benefit from having the in-form Zampa for the whole tournament and they’ll be hoping Billy Stanlake can find form.
The Heat will be eager to rebound from a disappointing campaign last year as they finished 7th. Luckily, Chris Lynn could not be in any better form after belting 398 runs off 139 balls in Brisbane club cricket! But the biggest question mark on the Heat is if Lynn gets out cheaply, will the batting collapses of last season continue? Unfortunately Tom Banton has been ruled out as well due to fatigue so they’ll really need their younger guys to setup. In the bowling department, the Heat have really changed things up. While they’ve lost the likes of Pattinson, Lalor and Cutting. They’ve brought in Morkel, Wildermuth and Lewis Gregory from England. So it's tough to get read on the Heat with so many team changes at the moment. However, we do like their chances of an upset considering they seem to matchup well with the Stars.
If Stoinis is out for Melbourne, the Heat are really underpriced at the moment and actually have a wonderful record against the Stars. In their 12 meetings, the Heat hold an 8-4 record and they also won the last meeting by 71 runs. So if Lynnsanity continues in Canberra, the Heat can definitely cause an early season upset here.
Stadium Record
Melbourne are 0-1 at this venue in BBL history. Meanwhile, Brisbane are yet to play a BBL game in Canberra.
Head to Head Record
The Heat have won 8 of the 12 BBL meetings.
Best Bet
