Strikers v Stars free betting tips, odds & preview | BBL14

Strikers vs Stars best bets

Strikers vs Stars match preview

The Adelaide Strikers and Melbourne Stars will both be searching for their first win of the season when the Big Bash League continues on Friday night in the ‘City of Churches’.

It took a remarkable Daniel Sams cameo to bring the Strikers undone against the Sydney Thunder on Tuesday night, in a match Adelaide arguably dictated until the 19th over of the second innings.

The Adelaide Strikers are expected to welcome England keeper-batsman Ollie Pope to the fold after an eventful Test series against New Zealand over the last few weeks. With scores off 77 and 66, along with starts in his other three innings, Pope comes to Australia in relatively good form.

Fast bowler Brendan Doggett is also likely to enter the mix, with the Strikers expected to look for early inroads to a somewhat fragile Stars batting lineup.

The Melbourne Stars have been comfortably beaten in both of their first two games, losing by six wickets to the Perth Scorchers on opening night and then by eight wickets to the Brisbane Heat on Wednesday.

The Stars failed to post big scores when batting first in both games, but their batting is set to be bolstered with gun England opener Ben Duckett coming over for his third BBL stint.

Duckett isn’t the only big potential inclusion for the visitors, with star all-rounder Glenn Maxwell expected to play his first game of competitive cricket since injuring his hamstring during the T20I series against Pakistan last month.

Despite both teams being winless, the Strikers ($1.67) are favoured to get off the mark with cricket betting sites, while the Stars ($2.22) are expected to be 0-3 in BBL14 before Christmas.

Strikers vs Stars predictions

Despite the inclusions of Duckett and Maxwell for the Stars, the Adelaide Strikers just look to be the better side on paper. The firepower of their top three in Matt Short, Jake Weatherald and Chris Lynn is enviable, while the leg-spin duo of Cameron Boyce and Lloyd Pope are often reliable to keep runs down to a minimum — especially at Adelaide Oval. Throw in Henry Thornton swinging the new ball around corners, and it looks to be another uphill task for the Stars.

Matt Short was the leading runscorer in BBL13 and will be looking to kickstart BBL14 at home after missing out in the Strikers’ opening match. The Stars’ bowling attack is hardly a scary proposition, and considering Short is such a strong leg-side player, the short square boundaries in Adelaide suit him perfectly. The $3.25 on offer with Marantelli Bet to bring up a half-century looks great value.

While Henry Thornton didn’t have a great BBL13 campaign, he was solid with 2/34 against the Thunder. He picked up the key wicket of David Warner in the second over and dismissed Nathan McAndrew in the last over, showing he can get it done at both ends of the innings. With a strike rate of 13.5 in T20 cricket, the $4.25 on offer with top sports bookmakers for Thornton to be the Strikers’ top bowler looks appealing.

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