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The Sydney Thunder have beaten the Melbourne Stars at the MCG by seven wickets in a match that has kept the hopes alive for the Sydney team of making the BBL finals this year.
» Click here to read the full match report
Final score
Melbourne Stars 6/147
Sydney Thunder 3/149
The Melbourne Stars host the Sydney Thunder at the MCG in this round of the Big Bash League as the bottom two teams desperately try to avoid the wooden spoon and impress the budget holders in the IPL. Join The Roar for live scores and commentary from 6pm (AEDT).
As the finals draw closer it would be easy to assume that a bottom of the table clash is as far away from exciting as it would be possible to get.
However when you look under the hood of this match there’s some interesting subplots that could make for a great day.
The Stars have been… well they’ve been… er… sort of… terrible. They’ve been terrible. Neither the batsmen nor the bowlers have put in decent performances and the fact that they’ve got one win from seven is not really a surprise.
Which is strange because when you run your eyes over their team least there is some serious potential there. Maxwell has been their best with the bat and with his strike rate of 148.61 he just needs some support from the likes of Wright and Pietersen to help the Stars post a decent score.
With the ball Jackson Coleman has had a pretty good season so far. He’s conceding six runs per over which puts him in the top eight most economical bowlers of the whole BBL.
But again there’s no support with the likes of Marcus Stoinis going for over 10 an over and John Hastings going for almost 9 per over.
Combine this with a serious lack of wickets – not a single Stars bowler has taken over eight wickets this season – and it’s easy to see that the Stars have got problems all over.
The Thunder haven’t been doing much better to be honest but they have had a handful of players step up a bit more than their rivals. Watson is the fourth biggest scorer in the competition this year Jos Buttler’s strike rate of 143 is impressive from his six games.
The Thunder’s bowling has been of an issue – Fawad Ahmed has done well both in terms of wickets taken and economy, but the likes of Mitchell McCleneghan have been leaking too many runs.
If Arjun Nair can keep his fellow leg spinner Ahmed company and bowl well then the Stars could really struggle to get some decent runs.
Despite the poor performances from these teams, this match should have some spice to it for a few reasons. Firstly it’s a Sydney versus Melbourne thing and both teams will want to have one over on the other.
Secondly the Stars will be very keen to avoid the wooden spoon. The engraver is very close to starting to put the M on the handle but there is still hope for the Stars. If they can win on Saturday and string a few late victories together then they could leapfrog the Thunder.
Finally the players themselves will be well aware that the IPL auction is just around the corner. Many of them will be wanting to show the teams in India that they should get their chequebooks out for them despite their teams’ poor showing this season.
There are big bucks on offer and some good performances in the final games could make an individual some serious cash.
Prediction
The season is arguably over for these teams so perhaps the lack of pressure to qualify will see some real fireworks.
The Stars will fight hard to avoid the wooden spoon but in the end the Thunder will have slightly more momentum and form for the home side.
Thunder to win and force the Stars to stay rock bottom.
Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match, starting from 6:10pm (AEDT).
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