THE EDGE: The Edge previews the BBL match between Adelaide Strikers v Melbourne Stars with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
Adelaide Strikers v Melbourne Stars
MATCH OVERVIEW:
The Big Bash continues on BETDAQ Betting Exchange on Friday morning with Adelaide Strikers and Melbourne Stars still searching for their first win. Both sides got off to losing starts this week but Melbourne Stars are already sitting bottom of the table with a poor net run rate after two losses. Melbourne Stars have really struggled in recent seasons; they’ve been in the bottom three for four seasons in a row now. Remarkably before this current run, they topped the table in 2019/20! Glenn Maxwell has been their star name, but he has been injured a lot recently.
Some other key men have been taken away by the T20 leagues in South Africa and the UAE – Marcus Stoinis for example. I don’t think they have done enough with the squad to get away from the bottom three in the table to be honest, and it’s going to be another long season for Stars fans in my opinion. Adelaide Strikers will have a shot at the playoffs – they should have actually won their opening game – they posted a nice score of 182/8 against Sydney Thunder and were reasonably in control of the game until they conceded 31 runs in the 19th over! Three sixes, three fours and a wide.
This game will likely give us an idea where the Strikers stand going forward. I feel we already know that Melbourne Stars will struggle – another loss here for the home side would definitely put the pressure on; especially against one of the weaker sides in the tournament.
WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:
This is the first game of the season at Adelaide; we actually have three quick games here because this venue has turned into the traditional New Year’s Eve game too. We usually get good scoring conditions here; however we can get quite dry wickets from time to time too which can be hard to score on. Generally over time you’d say it pays to bat first whatever the wicket – if it’s flat it’s a good chance to pile on the pressure and when it spins it’s hard to chase. That didn’t work out last season though – every winner chased! The first inning scores were 200/7, 205/4, 153/7 and 165/7. We tend to see some high scores here.
RECOMMENDED BET:
It’s no surprise to see the Adelaide Strikers as the favourites here, and I still feel that they offer slight value at 1.84. I’m keen to keep stakes small here – it’s still very early in the tournament, but also the jury is definitely still out on these two sides. I’d expect the Strikers to improve a little on their opening display – the Stars have lost two games now and without Glenn Maxwell they do look quite weak on paper. The Strikers can get over the line in a high scoring game.
The Edge Says:
One point win Adelaide Strikers to beat Melbourne Stars at 1.84 with https://betdaq.biz/SydStr
View the market here -> https://betdaq.biz/AdeMlb
IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:
Given this is the first game of the season here and we also recently had an Australia v India Day/Night Test match here too, I would keep a pretty open mind on conditions. As I said above, we generally get a good batting wicket here with high scoring games, but it can get quite dry and spin too. Perhaps that will come later in the season, but I would confirm conditions before creating a plan. If it’s a good wicket, I’d be happy getting on the side batting first and then making a decision to trade or stay at the innings break. It paid to chase here last season; I do feel this is a game where the batters will be on top, but it’s hard to have faith in the Melbourne Stars batting!
