The Roar
The Roar

Advertisement

Melbourne Renegades vs Adelaide Strikers: Big Bash League live scores, blog

19th January, 2015
Time: 7:40pm (AEDT)
Venue: Etihad Stadium
TV: Ten Network
Betting: Strikers $1.74, Renegades $2.10
The Adelaide Strikers rung in 2016 in style. (Image: TenPlay)
Expert
19th January, 2015
183
11317 Reads

The final round of the 2014/15 Big Bash League continues on Monday night with the Melbourne Renegades taking on the Adelaide Strikers at Etihad Stadium in Melbourne. Join The Roar from 7:30pm (AEDT) for live scores and a blog of the game.

For the Adelaide Strikers, this game is merely a chance to wrap up the minor premiership in what has been a dominating season for them, with five wins, one loss and one non-result coming against the Thunder in a rain affected game at Adelaide Oval.

The Strikers currently sit on 11 points on the ladder, one ahead of the Perth Scorchers who play the Melbourne Stars tomorrow night in their final regular season game meaning that if the Strikers were to get the victory tonight they will go an unassailable three points ahead at the top of the table and wrap up the minor premiership.

For the Melbourne Renegades, this game against the Strikers carries serious weight to their aspirations of making the semi finals which start on Saturday night.

The Renegades currently sit in fifth position on six competition points with three wins and four losses. A win against the Strikers would move them to eight points and into equal fourth position. However that team in fourth is the Sydney Sixers who still have a game to play against the Sydney Thunder on Thursday Night.

The Sixers net run rate is also higher than the Renegades with the Sixers at -0.023 and the Renegades at -0.224. This essentially means that the Renegades need a big win tonight and then rely on the Thunder beating the Sixers by a substantial amount for them to make the semi finals.

In team changes for the two sides from their previous games, the Renegades have gone with an unchanged line up, whilst the Strikers have had to ring a few changes.

Jono Dean has been dropped and replaced by the young batsman Kelvin Smith, and as he is the only batsman added to the squad he looks likely to make his Big Bash debut.

Advertisement

Shaun Tait has been rested from the Strikers squad due to Hamstring tendinitis. Two players have come into the squad to be a chance to replace him. They are Jon Holland, who could be a big chance of being the Strikers third spinner on what is usually a very spin friendly pitch at Etihad Stadium.

The other player is bowling all rounder Trent Lawford who has replaced Tait in the other two games that he has missed this season.

Expect this game to be a low scoring one (by T20 standards that is) on a pitch that has suited the bowlers right throughout the tournament.

Particularly if the Strikers name three spinners it could make life very hard for the Renegades.

The Renegades though don’t really have a point of just winning the game by a small margin in a low scorer as that doesn’t help their push to the finals. They need to come out swinging, win the game and win it big to improve their net run rate.

The last time the Renegades met the Strikers was back in the 2013/2014 version of the Big Bash League and once again at the back end of the season at the Adelaide Oval.

The Renegades batted first and posted a compeititve total of 6/155 off their 20 overs, before the Strikers fell just two runs short off their 20 overs in a thriller of a contest.

Advertisement

Prediction: Expect the Renegades to come out swinging, but the high rolling Strikers to win in a close one.

Remember to join The Roar from 7:30pm (AEDT) for our live coverage of the game.

close