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The last round of the group stage of the Big Bash League 2013-14 kick-starts on Wednesday with a game between the Adelaide Strikers and the Melbourne Renegades and you can follow the scores live from 7.40pm AEDT.
On the one hand is a team which has a mathematical chance of qualifying for the semi-finals, while on the other is a side which will be playing only for pride here.
The Adelaide Strikers, with five points from seven games are all but out of the competition, while the Renegades have won only two games and the only thing they can expect out of a victory here is to pull themselves above the bottom-two position.
The scenario for the Strikers borders on the realms of impossible. Almost miraculous.
With the Hurricanes on five points and the Heat on six and with the two sides clashing against each other in their respective final game of the league stage, the Strikers’ goose is all but cooked.
If Heat win, they get to eight and irrespective of what happens in this Strikers-Renegades encounter, Adelaide won’t be able to catch up with them.
If the Hurricanes win, they will jump up to the fourth spot with seven points, something that the Strikers can get to if they beat the Renegades.
But it will then boil down to the net run-rates of the two sides, and with the Hurricanes at +0.039 and the Strikers on -1.089, it’s difficult to see how the gap can be filled up.
To give an idea on how difficult the Strikers’ task is, assume that despite winning the game, the Hurricanes’ NRR does not change much and the Strikers have to change their NRR to +0.04 – which is slightly more than Hurricanes’ +0.039.
In that case, if the Strikers bat first and score 200 in their 20 overs, they will need to bowl the Renegades out for 73 or less to register a better NRR. Chasing could get even tougher, with a target of 75 needed to be attained in less than four overs.
This, for a team, which has struggled throughout the competition, can be safely assumed to be an impossible scenario.
What both teams could be looking to play for is pride and a lot of it will be at stake given they haven’t had the best of the competition.
Expect a few changes from both sides in order to give their lesser known players a run before the close of the competition.
Join us for the Strikers v Renegades match in the Big Bash League 2013-14 on Wednesday and you can follow the live score of this game from 7.40 pm AEDT and post your comments below.
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