The Sydney Sixers take on the Melbourne Renegades in the 2nd match of BBL13 in Sydney at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Friday the 8th of December.
Here's everything you need to know...
Predicted Teams
Sydney Sixers: 1 Josh Philippe, 2 James Vince, 3 Steve Smith, 4 Moises Henriques, 5 Jordan Silk, 6 Jack Edwards, 7 Tom Curran, 8 Sean Abbott, 9 Den Dwarshuis, 10 Joel Davies and 11 Jackson Bird
Melbourne Renegades: 1 Joe Clark, 2 Nic Maddinson, 3 Jake Fraser-McGurk, 4 Aaron Finch, 5 Jono Wells, 6 Mackenzie Harvey, 7 Will Sutherland, 8 Tom Rogers, 9 Adam Zampa, 10 Mujeeb ur Rahman and 11 Kane Richardson
Start Vs Sit
Batters - James Vince vs Jordan Silk
In BBL12, Silk averaged two points more than Vince did in GDS. However, Vince averaged 29 runs with the bat and Silk averaged 26 runs. Silk is great in the field and this is why he averaged more points than Vince. I prefer Vince over Silk in this match and this comes down to a couple of things. In BBL12, the Renegades allowed an average of 27 points in GDS to opposing opening batsmen compared to an average of 16 points to batsmen coming in at either five or six in the batting order. At the SCG, openers averaged 26 points compared to an average of 11 points to batsmen coming in at either five or six in the batting order. On top of this, openers have more opportunity to score runs than batsmen coming in lower down the order.
Start: James Vince
All-Rounder - Moises Henriques vs Nic Maddinson
We aren't spoilt for too much choice at the all-rounder position in this match due to only five players with an all-rounder position designation predicted to play. In my opinion, Henriques and Maddinson are battling it out for the fourth all-rounder starting position. In BBL12, Henriques averaged three points more than Maddinson did in GDS. I'm leaning towards Maddinson as the fourth starting all-rounder due to him opening the batting and Henriques likely to come in at four for the Sixes. With Philippe, Vince and Smith likely to be the top three for the Sixers, I just don't see too much upside for Henriques. Also, Henriques took a while to warm up in BBL12 as he only averaged 13 runs through his first six matches. There were four single digit scores in these matches and two of them were ducks.
Start: Nic Maddinson
Bowler - Mujeeb ur Rahman vs Jackson Bird
In BBL12, Bird averaged thirteen points more than Mujeeb did in GDS but I'm leaning the way of Mujeed for this match. This purley comes down to the Sixers struggling against spin in BBL12 and the SCG being a favourable pitch for spinners. The Sixers lost a total of 29 wickets to spin bowlers in BBL12 and this was the most by any team. The SCG was the second most favourable pitch for spinners and they took 36% of the wickets to bowlers at this ground. Many might think Mujeeb is a risky POD option but in this exact match in BBL12, he took three wickets for a score of 72 points in GDS.
Start: Mujeeb ur Rahman
Matchup Matrix
Key Takeaways:
Spinners had the most success the Sixers compared to any of team
Opening batsmen had a lot of success against the Renegades
Avoid playing batsmen that come in at five or six for both teams
Ground Matrix
Key Takeaways:
Opening batsmen for the team batting first has a lot of success
Avoid playing batsmen that come in at five or six for both teams
Avoid playing opening batsmen for the chasing team
Hot Take
Philippe will outscore Clarke at the wicket keeper position. Clarke was the top ranked wicketkeeper from BBL12 but I'm expecting Philippe to put his poor T20 form from last season behind him and start with a score of 50+ runs.
Who to play in your GDS starting XI
BAT - Steve Smith
BAT - Aaron Finch
BAT - James Vince
ALL - Tom Curran
ALL - Sean Abbott
ALL - Nic Maddinson
ALL - Moises Henriques
WK - Josh Philippe
BWL - Den Dwarshuis
BWL - Tom Rogers
BWL - Mujeeb ur Rahman