We take a look at Sunday’s (26/1/2020) BBL Big Bash 2020 match which is between the Sydney Thunder and Perth Scorchers. The Perth Scorchers go into the match as favourites but the bookies have it as a pretty even match.
When: Sunday, 26th January at 2:50PM
Where: Spotless Stadium
Bet: Bet On This Match HERE
Preview:
The winner of this Australia Day showdown is guaranteed to feature in the BBL playoffs. The loser will be sweating on other results in the hope their season is not over.
The 6-7 Scorchers sit fourth on the ladder – just one point ahead of the 5-7-1 Hurricanes (who also have one game to come) and Thunder.
After the Thunder won both clashes between the sides last season, the Scorchers romped to an eight-wicket home victory on Monday.
Alex Hales (85 off 59) played a lone hand as the Thunder reached 5/153. Liam Livingstone (78 off 49) and Josh Inglis (58 off 41) put on 136 for the first wicket as the Scorchers reeled in the target with 27 balls to spare.
But that was the Scorchers’ only win in their last four outings. They went down to the Strikers by 16 runs on Friday night – despite another stellar knock from Livingstone (79 off 54). The opener was the only Perth batsman to score more than 17 and their chase of 182 always looked behind the eight-ball.
Sydney also followed up Monday’s encounter with a loss, crashing by a 57-run margin in Hobart. Daniel Sams (4/34) bowled superbly but the Hurricanes powered to 6/185. Hales (63 off 42) was essentially a one-man band again as the Thunder were skittled for 128, with eight batsman making four runs or less.
The Thunder are screaming out for Usman Khawaja and Callum Ferguson to rediscover their best form.
Lean towards the Scorchers here as $1.78 favourites. Meanwhile, Livingstone and Hales are head and shoulders above their respective teammates form-wise at present.
Odds:
Tip: Perth Scorchers $1.67
Value BET: Man of the Match: Liam Livingstone at $9.00
Teams:
Sydney Thunder squad
Callum Ferguson (c), Jonathan Cook, Oliver Davies, Brendan Doggett, Matthew Gilkes, Chris Green, Alex Hales (England), Usman Khawaja, Jay Lenton, Nathan McAndrew, Chris Morris (South Africa), Arjun Nair, Alex Ross, Daniel Sams, Gurinder Sandhu, Jason Sangha, Tanveer Sangha, Chris Tremain
Perth Scorchers squad
Mitchell Marsh (c), Ashton Agar, Fawad Ahmed, Cameron Bancroft, Jason Behrendorff, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Nick Hobson, Josh Inglis, Chris Jordan (England), Matthew Kelly, Liam Livingstone (England), Joel Paris, Kurtis Patterson, Jhye Richardson, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye, Sam Whiteman