GameDay Squad AUS Cricket Round 12 Preview: The Melbourne Stars take on the Sydney Thunder in the 12th match of BBL13 in Albury at the Lavington Sports Ground and the Hobart Hurricanes take on the Melbourne Renegades in the 13th match of BBL13 in Hobart at Blundstone Arena on Saturday the 23rd of December.
Here's everything you need to know ....
Predicted Teams
Game 1
Melbourne Stars: 1. Tom Rogers, 2. Sam Harper, 3. Beau Webster, 4. Glenn Maxwell, 5. Marcus Stoinis, 6. Hilton Cartwright, 7. Nick Larkin, 8. Liam Dawson, 9. Usama Mir, 10. Joel Paris, 11. Haris Rauf
Sydney Thunder: 1. Cameron Bancroft, 2. Alex Hales, 3. Matt Gilkes, 4. Oliver Davies, 5. Alex Ross, 6. Daniel Sams, 7. Nathan McAndrew, 8. Chris Green, 9. Liam Hatcher, 10. Zaman Khan, 11. Tanveer Sangha Game 2
Hobart Hurricanes: 1. Caleb Jewell, 2. Matthew Wade, 3. Ben McDermott, 4. Sam Hain, 5. Tim David, 6. Corey Anderson, 7. Mitchell Owen, 8. Chris Jordan, 9. Patrick Dooley, 10. Nathan Ellis, 11. Riley Meredith
Melbourne Renegades: 1. Joe Clarke, 2. Quinton de Kock, 3. Jake Fraser-McGurk, 4. Nic Maddinson, 5. Aaron Finch, 6. Jono Wells, 7. Will Sutherland, 8. Tom Rogers, 9. Kane Richardson, 10. Adam Zampa, 11. Mujeeb ur Rahman
Start Vs Sit !
Batters - Alex Hales vs Caleb Jewell
Two powerful opening batsman who can easily win a game off their own bat, Alex Hales and Caleb Jewell both come up for selection in round 12 which is sure to send headaches to all coaches selecting teams. Jewell has the upper hand on the better innings between the two scoring 42 runs off just 24 balls in the Hurricanes outing against the Sydney Sixers, but it just feels like Hales is a bullet in a gun ready to fire! Hales will face a fairly stout Stars bowling line up but the historical upside of Hales is just to much to pass up between the two in round 12.
Start: Alex Hales
All-Rounder - Daniel Sams vs Corey Anderson
Sams has been struggling to find form with the ball and has only taken one wicket so far in BBL13. Anderson scored 72 against the Sixers but only managed 9 points against a very good Scorchers team. One of the reasons why Anderson scored well against the Sixers is because the Hurricanes were down a bowler due to Meredith getting injured during the match. Due to this, Anderson was given more opportunity with the ball. Against the Scorchers, Anderson only bowled the one over and I think this is what we are likely to see moving forward. It's only a matter of time before Sams is in the runs and picks up a couple of wickets in the same match. It might just be against an out of form Stars team.
Start: Daniel Sams
Bowler - Tom Rogers vs Nathan Ellis
Battle of the quicks! Tom Rogers of the Renegades against the Hurricanes captain Nathan Ellis. Major upside for both players can be argued however, Rogers gets the nod for me purely because of his batting prowess. We saw in the Renegades vs Heat clash, Rogers came in 8 and he went onto to flog 20 runs off just 14 balls! If your bowlers can add a handful of points to their score with the bat, you have an automatic advantage!
Start: Tom Rogers
Game 1
Matchup Matrix
Key Takeaways:
Middle order batsmen have struggled against the Thunder's bowling unit
Both pace and spin bowlers for the Stars haven't had much success
The Thunder have allowed to most runs to opening batters
Ground Matrix
Key Takeaways:
Middle order batsmen can have a lot of success here
Avoid lower order batsmen
Pace bowlers have a lot more success here than spin bowlers do
Game 2
Matchup Matrix
Key Takeaways:
Middle and lower order batsman perform well against the Hurricanes
Lower order batsman perform well against the Renegades
Pace bowlers have more success against the Hurricanes than spin bowlers
Ground Matrix
Key Takeaways:
Opening batsmen in the first innings struggle here
This is a bowler friendly ground
It may be better to start bowlers who bowl in the second innings
Hot Take
Stoinis to raise his bat for a half century and take two wickets.
Who to play in your GDS starting XI
BAT - Alex Hales
BAT - Jake Fraser-McGurk
BAT - Oliver Davies
ALL - Marcus Stoinis
ALL - Will Sutherland
ALL - Beau Webster
ALL - Daniel Sams
WK - Cameron Bancroft
BWL - Patrick Dooley
BWL - Zaman Khan
BWL - Tom Rogers