BBL bookies struggling to split Hurricanes, Sixers in title odds

With the Big Bash League finals upon us, cricket betting sites are struggling to identify a clear favourite for the BBL14 title.

Top bookie Neds is giving the first-placed Hobart Hurricanes ($2.40) only a narrow edge over the second-placed Sydney Sixers ($2.50) in outright betting.

Although the Hurricanes finished the regular season with a loss to the Melbourne Stars on Sunday, that result ended a run of seven consecutive victories for the Tasmanian outfit.

The Sixers finished the home-and-away campaign one point behind Hobart, with two of their last five games washed out.

Those two will face each other in the qualifier clash on Tuesday, with online bookmakers giving the Hurricanes a slight edge at $1.78 for the win.

Next best in BBL title betting are the Stars ($5.50), who recovered from a 0-5 start to storm into the finals as arguably the form team in the competition.

The Sydney Thunder could only manage one win from their last five games in the regular season, so it is no surprise to see them pegged as $9 outsiders across T20 betting sites.

The Stars and Thunder will clash in the knockout match on Wednesday, with Bet365 installing Melbourne as $1.72 favourites to advance.

In the exotic markets, Thunder captain David Warner is paying short odds of $1.40 to finish as BBL14’s top runscorer.

With the Perth Scorchers playing no part in the Big Bash finals, Warner needs only six runs to surpass Cooper Connolly’s tally of 351.

Hobart’s Mitchell Owen is a $5.50 chance after making 308 runs in a breakout campaign, while the red-hot Glenn Maxwell is at $6 on 297 runs.

For the bowlers, Stars seamer Mark Steketee ($2.40) needs three wickets to overhaul Perth’s Jason Behrendorff ($2.25) in the league standings.

Those two are well ahead of the remaining chances, with Sixers quick Ben Dwarshuis ($10) needing six more scalps to overtake Behrendorff.

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