Last Update on: January 15th, 2021 at 08:16 am
On Friday (15th January), Melbourne Stars and Adelaide Strikers will take on each other at Melbourne Cricket Ground (Melbourne) during the 40th match of the Big Bash League 2020/21 (BBL 10).
It will be their second meeting in this BBL season. While they earlier met at Adelaide on last Monday (11th January), Strikers won that match by 5 wickets.
At present, Melbourne Stars are in the seventh position in the BBL 10 points table with 16 points in 9 matches. Meanwhile, Adelaide Strikers are in the fourth spot in the same points table with 20 points in 10 games.
Big Bash League 2020-21 (BBL 10), Match 40: Melbourne Stars vs Adelaide Strikers – Match Preview
Melbourne Stars
Though they started this BBL season in bright way with two successive victories and one no result in their first three matches of this season, Melbourne Stars then have won only one more game out six matches.
Only Marcus Stoinis and captain Glenn Maxwell have batted strongly for this team in this season. While Stoinis has scored 277 runs in eight innings (average 39.57; strike-rate 160.11), Maxwell has scored 255 runs in eight innings (average 36.42; strike-rate 151.78). Both of them have scored two half-centuries each in this season.
While they played the previous game against Adelaide Strikers, only Stoinis (47) and Nic Maddinson (48*) performed impressively with the bat for the Melbourne Stars.
Among their bowlers, while leg-spinner Adam Zampa has taken 12 wickets in 7 matches, right-arm pacer Liam Hatcher has got 10 wickets in 7 matches. Also, pacer Billy Stanlake has picked up 9 wickets in eight matches.
Left-handed batsman Ed Newman has been added to the squad as a replacement player of Test cricketer Will Pucovski, who is currently injured.
Latest full available squad
Glenn Maxwell (c), Hilton Cartwright, Sam Elliott, Andre Fletcher, Seb Gotch, Liam Hatcher, Clint Hinchliffe, Zahir Khan, Nick Larkin, Nic Maddinson, Ed Newman, Tom O’Connell, Sam Rainbird, Haris Rauf, Billy Stanlake, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa
Forms in the last 5 matches (Oldest to latest): Lost, Lost, Won, Lost and Lost
Adelaide Strikers
Out of their 10 matches this season, Adelaide Strikers won five games and lost the other five matches. As a team, they are not consistent yet in this season.
Talking about their squad changes, while the veteran pacer Peter Siddle has returned to the squad after recovering from thumb injury, Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan travelled to Abu Dhabi for international commitment. However, Siddle has yet to prove his match fitness ahead of their upcoming match. While Rashid took 16 wickets in 10 matches this season, Siddle has got 13 wickets in nine matches.
However, their most wicket-taker in this BBL 10 is the right-arm fast bowler Wes Agar who has scalped 17 wickets in 10 matches. Moreover, Worrell has got 9 wickets in eight matches while Danny Briggs has picked up 8 wickets in 10 games.
While Alex Carey has scored 279 runs, Jake Weatherald and Phil Salt have scored 244 and 221 runs respectively. All of them have scored two fifties each in this season. Also, Jon Wells has scored 204 runs, including one half-century.
Latest full available squad
Alex Carey (c), Wes Agar, Danny Briggs, Harry Conway, Ryan Gibson, Harry Nielsen, Liam O’Connor, Spencer Johnson, Matt Renshaw, Phil Salt, Liam Scott, Matt Short, Peter Siddle, Cameron Valente, Jake Weatherald, Jon Wells, Daniel Worrall
Forms in the last 5 matches (Oldest to latest): Lost, Lost, Won, Lost and Won
Big Bash League 2020-21 (BBL 10), Match 40: Melbourne Stars vs Adelaide Strikers – Match Prediction
It will be the first home match for Melbourne Stars in this BBL season. Meanwhile, Adelaide Strikers won all the last three games against this opponent.
Though Adelaide Strikers are favourite ahead of this upcoming match, Melbourne Stars will try to put their best effort at home.
