BBL07: Sydney Thunder vs Melbourne Renegades preview and prediction

The Sydney Thunder host the Melbourne Renegades in a huge clash at Manuka Oval in Canberra, with both sides eyeing off the last place in the finals. Here is my full preview, as well as The Prophet’s pick.

Sydney Thunder (4-5) vs Melbourne Renegades (4-4) at Manuka Oval
Head-to-head: Melbourne Renegades 5, Sydney Thunder 1
Last five: Melbourne Renegades 4, Sydney Thunder 1

Melbourne Renegades (squad): Dwayne Bravo (c) , Tom Cooper, Marcus Harris, Brad Hodge, Brad Hogg, Jon Holland, Tim Ludeman+, Keiron Pollard, Kane Richardson, Matt Short, Jack Wildermuth, Mackenzie Harvey, Chris Tremain

Sydney Thunder (squad): Shane Watson (c), Kurtis Patterson, Aiden Blizzard, Ed Cowan, Jay Lenton, Ben Rohrer, Chris Green, Fawad Ahmed, Arjun Nair, Mitch McClenaghan, Gurinder Sandhu, Andrew Fekete, James Vince

The Thunder need a big win against the Renegades to keep their finals hopes alive in their last regular season match. The Thunder are sitting at four and five, with a negative net run rate, but are still some chance of grabbing fourth spot off the Renegades if they can win and reverse that net run rate deficit, as well as having other results go their way in the closing games of the season.

The Renegades are in free fall having lost their past three games to drop to four and four, and need another win to be in the driver’s seat and claim fourth position on the table.

Big batting battle: Shane Watson vs Tom Cooper
Watson and Cooper lock horns in this crunch battle with plenty at stake. Plenty will fall on Watson, with Usman Khawaja being ruled out through injury.

Watson was 49 not out in his last innings against the Stars, and is the third leading run scorer in BBL07, with 308 runs at an average of 38.

With no Cameron White or Aaron Finch responsibility for the Renegades falls on Tom Cooper who has had a good BBL07 scoring 186 runs with a strike rate of 131.

(AAP Image/Rob Blakers)

Big bowling battle: Fawad Ahmed vs Brad Hogg
Ahmed has been in outstanding form again for the Thunder in BBL07, being the team’s leading wicket-taker with 11 scalps at 19. Crucially, he is only going for six runs an over, making him a strike weapon and a bowler controlling the tempo.

Hogg is retiring at the end of the season and teams have gone after him this year more than ever before. While he has not been poor, taking eight wickets at 33, he is going for over eight runs per over which is not the control needed from a frontline spinner.

Ground Dynamic: Manuka Oval
You would expect, being the first game in Canberra for the season, it’ll be a really well prepared and good batting surface. The BBL05 grand final was played at Manuka Oval with the Scorchers defeating the Sixers in a final ball thriller.

The Prophet’s pick (20-16): Melbourne Renegades
“No King Khawaja equals no Thunder.”

The Prophet’s ten-unit bank (-62 Units)

• 4 Units Renegades to win by 1-20 runs or 1-4 wickets @ $6
• 2 Units Renegades to score between 161-180 @ $2.75 (bet refunded f they don’t bat first)
• 2 Units (3 Units if Thunder bat first) Thunder high bat/bowler to be Watson/Ahmed @ $13.13
• 2 Units (3 Units if Thunder bat first) Renegades high bat/bowler to be Ludeman/Wildermuth @ $18