Adelaide Strikers v Sydney Thunder Big Bash tips: Hales has to step up

• Adelaide pitch tricky to call

• Thunder lose skipper

• Cutting and Sams underrated

Adelaide Strikers v Sydney Thunder
Tuesday 20 December, 08:10
TV: Live on BT Sports

Team news

Things are going from horrendous to terminal for Thunder. After losing two of their first three, including being bowled out for 15 against Strikers, skip Jason Sangha has broken a collar bone.

It is likely to rule him out for the rest of the tournament. Ben Cutting is expected to come into the XI with Chris Green taking over as leader.

Possible XI: Gilkes, Hales, Rossouw, Cutting, Sams, Ross, Davies, Green, Sandhu, Doggett, Farooqi

Strikers may be the best team in it. They thumped Sixers and then humiliated Thunder. But few will be convinced by their batting line-up.

Against Thunder they managed only 139 before that extraordinary batting failure. Only Matt Short in their top six is a player who punters will recognise as a gun.

Probable XI: Short, Weatherald, Lynn, Hose, de Grandhomme, Kelly, Neilsen, Rashid, Agar, Thornton, Siddle

Pitch report

Adelaide's 184 against Sixers was a return to a road for the Oval. Only two teams batting first busted 170 from seven in the World T20. In last term's Bash the mark was also busted twice from seven. More than 160 was bang on even money including World T20 and the 2021-22 Bash matches so paying over 167.5 (pissibly higher) on the par line is a tough ask.

How to play

Strikers are 1.768/11 with Thunder 2.245/4. We're could take a gamble on two elements here: the Oval surface and Thunder's batting. If it is as flat against the Sixers there's enough power in the visiting top order to flip these odds. But there is more fun to be had on the tops.

Tops value

Alex Hales hit 86 from 47 on this ground in the World T20 semi-final. It's about tinme he produced for a Thunder team desperate for a senior player to step up. Sportsbook go a boosted 3/1 from 11/4. For Thunder Daniel Sams and Ben Cutting may be underrated considering one or the other could bat at No 4. Sams is 10/1 and Cutting 17s.