Melbourne Stars vs Sydney Thunder Match 7 Predictions, Odds, Picks

• Melbourne Stars and Sydney Thunder have had contrasting starts to their 2021/22 Big Bash League campaign.
• Stars have named a strong squad for this match, which includes the likes of Andre Russell and Marcus Stoinis.
• Though their middle-order got the job done against Brisbane Heat, Sydney Thunder would want their talismanic opener Alex Hales to find his form back.

Melbourne Stars vs Sydney Thunder Odds

Odds taken from BetMGM

Melbourne Stars vs Sydney Thunder Prediction and Pick

There is hardly anything to separate these two teams based on head-to-head records, as while the Stars have beaten Thunder eight times, the 2015/16 winners have also got the better of the Stars on seven occasions. The Stars, however, are ahead on recent results, as they have won five of the last six meetings against the Thunder. This statistic, coupled with the incredibly strong squad they have named for this game, makes Melbourne Stars the favourites for this game.

Pick:

Melbourne Stars to Win (-120)

Melbourne Stars: Joe Clarke, Peter Nevill (wk), Clint Hinchcliffe/Nick Larkin, Glenn Maxwell (c), Marcus Stoinis/Hilton Cartwright, Andre Russell/Beau Webster, Nathan Coulter-Nile/Sam Rainbird, Samuel Elliott, Brody Couch, Adam Zampa, Qais Ahmed/Syed Faridoun

Sydney Thunder: Alex Hales, Jason Sangha/Sam Whiteman, Matthew Gilkes, Sam Billings (wk), Alex Ross, Daniel Sams, Ben Cutting, Chris Green (c), Nathan McAndrew, Gurinder Sandhu, Tanveer Sangha

Thunder Have Momentum on Their Side; While Stars Will Be Bolstered by Some Important Additions

Melbourne Stars had a horrific start to their 2021/22 Big Bash League campaign, as they were handed a humbling 152-run defeat by Sydney Sixers in the season opener. Bowling first, they conceded 213 runs and were then bowled out for only 61 runs in the run chase. That being said, they will welcome the likes of Andre Russell, Marcus Stoinis and Qais Ahmed to their squad and are likely to field a completely new-look playing XI for this game.

Sydney Thunder, on the contrary, had a fantastic first game against Brisbane Heat, where they emerged victoriously by 7 wickets. The boys in green restricted Jimmy Peirson’s team to a meagre total of 140 and then chased it down inside the 18th over, having lost only three wickets.

Team News

Melbourne Stars had a host of key players unavailable for the season opener against Sydney Sixers, but with almost all of them fit and available to play in this game, we can expect a plethora of changes being made to their playing XI. Overseas signings Andre Russell and Qais Ahmed are likely to replace Beau Webster and Syed Faridoun respectively, while Marcus Stoinis is likely to be included in Hilton Cartwright’s place. Having got out for duck a duck against the Sixers, Nick Larkin can make way for Clint Hinchliffe, while the experienced Nathan Coulter-Nile is expected to be preferred over Sam Rainbird, who conceded 59 runs in his four overs against Moises Henriques’ team.

Sydney Thunder, on the other hand, will not feel the urge to chop and change, having registered a convincing 7-wicket triumph over Brisbane Heat in their first match of the season. They can still tweak their opening slot, as Sam Whiteman could score only 11 runs in the last game. He might have to make way for the former Australia Under-19 skipper, Jason Sangha.

Key Players

Alex Ross: Alex Ross played a blinder of a knock against Brisbane Heat. Coming to bat in a precarious situation with his team struggling at 32/3, he set up a match-winning partnership with English keeper-batter Sam Billings. The 29-year-old lad from Melbourne scored unbeaten 61 runs from 46 deliveries, which included seven fours and a couple of maximums as well.

Andre Russell: The inclusion of Andre Russell will be a major boost for the Stars. 6430 runs at a strike rate of nearly 170 and 343 wickets in T20 cricket prove why the Caribbean all-rounder is a highly sought-after player in the shortest format of the game. In the recently-concluded final of Abu Dhabi T10 2021, he played an astonishing knock of 90 runs from 32 deliveries.

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