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The Sydney Thunder play host to the Adelaide Strikers in the 12th game of the Big Bash League this season at the Stadium Australia in Sydney.
We’ll bring you the live scores of the action throughout this game, with the match starting at 7 pm AEDT on December 20.
It has been a battling start for both teams. Both find themselves in the bottom half of the points table early in the tournament.
The Thunder, in fact, are the only side yet to win a game and have much ground to make if they need to keep their hopes of semi-final qualification alive.
They were handed a defeat by cross-town rivals Sydney Sixers in their opener before the Melbourne Renegades rushed off to an easy victory in their second match.
Johan Botha-led Adelaide have also featured in two, for a win and a loss, to lie in the fifth spot in the table. They kick-started their campaign with a win over the Perth Scorchers before the Brisbane Heat edged them out in a thriller at the Gabba a week ago.
It was a heart-breaking result for the Strikers, who got themselves to 185 in their 20 overs against the Heat before conceding a boundary off the last ball of that game to go down.
It could get tougher for them. With Thunder’s Chris Gayle long overdue for a big score in competitive cricket, he will look to get going against the Strikers, an opposition he had bull-dozed last season with a 54-ball century.
Interestingly, Adelaide might unleash Shaun Tait in this game to partner Kane Richardson, who hoped for a better showing against the Jamaican than the previous season.
Richardson said, “It is definitely going to be a challenge, last year he single-handedly beat us. We know when we play the Thunder he will be there. Hopefully he doesn’t come off like he did last year.”
On their part, while Thunder will hope that another Gayle blitzkrieg comes off, total reliance on him could back-fire. Usman Khawaja’s absence – as he reports for national duty – will be crucial and that leaves Mark Cosgrove and Azhar Mahmood to get going for this one.
The Strikers will hope that Michael Klinger can regroup and find form as Callum Ferguson looks to pile on the runs for them. Gayle’s West Indian teammate Kieron Pollard is as dangerous a proposition as his attacking stroke-play in the Heat’s game showed.
We will bring you the live coverage throughout the game from the Docklands and hope to receive your opinions as the action unfolds.
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