THE EDGE: The Edge previews the BBL match between Melbourne Stars v Perth Scorchers with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
Melbourne Stars v Perth Scorchers
MATCH OVERVIEW:
The Big Bash has their final game on Betdaq Betting Exchange on Wednesday before a little break for Test match cricket. Pakistan begin their Test series in Australia on Thursday, and Cricket Australia has decided the Big Bash won’t clash with it, which is a good decision in my opinion. Melbourne Stars take on Perth Scorchers with both sides hoping for better experiences than their first games. The Melbourne Stars lost to Brisbane Heat by a massive 103 runs, while the Perth Scorchers had their game called off due to an unsafe wicket. That’s something you see often in T20 cricket!
Perth Scorchers were supposed to take on Melbourne Renegades in Geelong on Sunday, but heavy rain managed to get under the covers on Saturday. The crowd staff worked very hard to try and dry the wicket, and the decision was taken to go ahead with the game. The Renegades won the toss, and captain Nic Maddinson said the wicket was “still absolutely drenched” and put Perth into bat. The umpires called it off due to dangerous conditions after 6.5 overs – thankfully no one was hurt but the ball was leaving massive divots and just behaving dangerously in general. Both sides seemed OK with the decision; when everyone agrees it always feels like a good decision.
Both sides will be hoping to kickstart their tournament here then. The Melbourne Stars were absolutely hammered by Brisbane Heat; they conceded 214/3 and then got bowled out for just 111. Obviously they have Glenn Maxwell, but their squad looks weak again outside of him and the likes of Marcus Stoinis. They finished bottom of the table last season; they could face a similar situation!
WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:
The Stars will be happy to have home advantage back at the MCG after a terrible first game. Perth Scorchers will know conditions well here though. As we all know, the outfield is massive at the MCG so don’t expect too many sixes. We’ll also get a lot of twos and threes ran, and it’s general hard work for the batters with the size of the boundaries. We rarely do we get huge scores here. We saw more games here than usual last season, obviously this is a very busy International ground! The first inning scores here last season were; 183/5 (won), 141/7 (won), 173/5 (chased), 108 all out (chased) 159/7 (chased) and 119/7 (chased). Given this is a drop in wicket with Aussie Rules here too; I would definitely go into the game with an open mind.
RECOMMENDED BET:
There’s a huge gulf in class between the sides here in my opinion. Perth Scorchers were exceptional last year; they topped the table and won the tournament too. They haven’t really started their season after what happened against the Renegades, but what we saw from the Melbourne Stars was poor. Their bowling was a big let down again, and they just don’t have the batting talent to get them out of trouble either. Perth Scorchers are the hot favourites at 1.54, but they are still worth backing at those odds.
The Edge Says:
Three points win Perth Scorchers to beat Melbourne Stars at 1.54 with Betdaq Exchange
View the market here -> https://betdaq.biz/Melper
IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:
Obviously this is the first game at the MCG so I would give it three overs to see what conditions are like. However, regardless of conditions I really like the Perth Scorchers batting against the Melbourne Stars bowling – I just feel there’s a huge gulf in class between the sides in that matchup and I expect that is where the game is won. Even in the Melbourne Stars batting, everyone outside of Glenn Maxwell seems worth taking on – I really feel it’s Maxwell or bust for the Stars!
