Adelaide Strikers and Sydney Thunder will lock horns with each other in a crucial match on Monday. Both sides will have a playoff berth at stake as this is their last League match, and a loss here will open up the opportunity for Brisbane Heat and Hobart Hurricanes, who are placed fifth and sixth respectively, to make it to the final four.
The Strikers will have home advantage in their favor as this match will be played at the Adelaide Oval. Moreover, they are coming into this match on the back of consecutive wins in their last couple of matches. Even though Rashid Khan has already gone back to play for Afghanistan, the other bowlers have stood up and delivered for the team. The batsmen have been in fine form as well and they will be eager to continue that in this match too.
The Thunder, on the other hand, have been pretty inconsistent of late and they are coming into this game on the back of a loss in the last match as well. Even though their entire batting unit has been in quite a good form in this tournament, the inconsistency of the bowlers has been mainly responsible for their seesawing fortunes. They will have to ensure that the bowling unit maintains discipline in this match, otherwise, they might lose out on their playoff berth.
Team News
Adelaide Strikers don’t have any major injury concerns. Sydney Thunder, however, will miss the services of Daniel Sams once again as he is still out with injury.
Probable Playing XIsÂ
Adelaide Strikers:
Philip Salt, Matt Renshaw, Alex Carey (WK), Ryan Gibson, Jake Weatherald, Travis Head (C), Michael Neser, Peter Siddle, Danny Briggs, Wes Agar, Liam O Connor
Sydney Thunder:
Usman Khawaja, Alex Hales, Callum Ferguson (C), Sam Billings (WK), Alex Ross, Oliver Davies, Ben Cutting, Chris Green, Nathan McAndrew, Adam Milne, Brendan Doggett/Tanveer Sangha
Top PicksÂ
Alex Carey (Adelaide Strikers)
The wicketkeeper-batsman is the Strikers’ highest run-getter in this season with 410 runs to his name at an average of 37.27. He has scored a century too and has two fifties to his name on top of that as well.
Alex Hales (Sydney Thunder)
Like Carey, Hales has scored a century in this BBL season as well. The English batsman is the highest run-getter in this season so far. He has 472 runs to his name at an average of 36.30.