Sydney Thunder ($2 with sportsbet.com.au) vs. Perth Scorchers ($1.85 with WilliamHill.com.au),
Thursday, January 7, 2015, 7.40pm AEDT, Spotless Stadium, Sydney, watch on Network 10
SOME of the out and out best T20 batsmen in the world will be on show when the Sydney Thunder host the Perth Scorchers at Spotless Stadium on Thursday night.
And the captains lead the way with the bat for these two teams, who are also battling it out for favouritism for the Big Bash League title with the Adelaide Strikers, who are at the head of the pack after vanquishing the Scorchers last night, $3.50 with WilliamHill.com.au.
Ageless Aussie cricket legend Mike Hussey is the third highest run scorer in the competition to this point and is perhaps putting forward a case for the selectors to consider him for the T20 World Cup squad – at the ripe old age of 40.
Not that they will listen, but it’s nice to know the veteran is still able to tear teams apart on a regular basis through the short form of the game.
He has crashed his way to 223 runs at an average of 74.33, with those runs coming off just 164 balls – a super strike rate of 135.98. He has been the man that has stood up for the Thunder throughout the second placed side’s five game campaign, which has featured three wins, and he is a big reason why the Thunder are the $5 third favourites in the competition.
You have to remember, this guy is a former international cricketer and is known by the name Mr Cricket. He is clearly one of the fittest 40 year old men on the planet and is so devoted to his craft, he is an encyclopaedia of not just batting, but cricket knowledge.
Did we mention he can bat? His ability to hammer classical drives is elegant, but it is his game off the back foot that is the ace in his considerable armoury. There are fewer awesome sights in the Big Bash than watching Hussey get on the back foot and plough a short one over the square leg or midwicket boundary.
He is ruthlessly efficient and always reliable and, at $3.75 at sportsbet.com.au, he is the man that should take it upon himself and be the high bat for the Thunder.
Speaking of taking it upon himself, Michael Klinger has been a one man wrecking crew at the top of the order for the Scorchers, who fell to second place with last night’s loss to the Strikers, and is the $2.80 favourite to make the most runs for his side.
Klinger was the top run scorer in the Big Bash last season, plundering 326 at an average of 36.22, including a century and a 50.
He is on track to better that record, just over half way through the season.
He is fourth in the competition with 205 runs off 152 balls, good enough for fourth in the competition – one behind Hussey.
He’s going at an average of 68.33, with his dismissal for 15 against the Strikers a rare blip on the radar.
He was majestic in a 58 ball unbeaten 90 against the Melbourne Renegades, where he shared an opening stand of 171 with Shaun Marsh and led his side to the first ever 10 wicket win in big Bash League history.
Then just a couple of days later, he was at it again, slapping 28 off 22 balls in another big opening partnership with Marsh that helped the Scorchers beat the Sydney Sixers by nine wickets.
Klinger has managed to get as much out of his ability as he could ever have hoped for and has become one of the best batsmen on the domestic seen.
But he has enjoyed vastly different fortunes to that of Hussey on the international stage, piling on thousands of runs at domestic level, but never quite catching the eye of the selectors enough to get a sustained run with the national team.
It’s a shame.
He’s a brilliant bat who has world class ability, but may have been a victim of his vintage, with the Aussies super strong batting line-ups of the 2000s and onward costing him dearly.
Fellow opener Marsh, at $3, is the obvious danger to this bet, but we are backing Klinger in to do the business, with Marsh perhaps shifting his focus to the national team and helping it beat the Indians, who they take on early next week.
it could very well come down to which one of these two men fire best in deciding which side will take the chocolates in this game.
One thing is for sure, if both men get going, not only will punters who follow our tips be happy, but casual supporters will be in for a serious treat.
We know we have selected the two favourites in the innings high bat markets, but some times it pays to go conservative when it involves a pair of batsmen who enjoy the form and talent that these two men have produced so far this season.
