Melbourne Stars vs Sydney Thunder Betting Tips & Predictions

Melbourne Stars’ Recent Form

The Stars couldn’t have got off to a worse start against the Sixers on Sunday.

They conceded far too many and then put in a really poor batting performance where no-one got going at all.

Bad in terms of dropping four points (they didn’t get the Bash Boost either, unsurprisingly), bad for their net run rate, bad for their confidence.

Still, it is true that they were missing Marcus Stoinis, Nathan Coulter-Nile, middle order batsman Joe Burns and fast bowler Billy Stanlake.

No side will ever be near their best with four important players out injured.

But poor starts to the tournament can cost you and having been quite fancied at the start, they don’t want to rule themselves out of a Top 2 Group Stage finish early on.

Sydney Thunders’ Recent Form

The Thunder started really well.

They reduced the Heat to 140/8 thanks to some fine bowling from Daniel Sams and Gurinder Sandhu, who took five wickets between them. It was a total that was never going to be enough.

But the Thunder recovered well after the early loss of star batter Alex Hales. It was a rare failure for last year’s top runscorer, who went for 0.

It was then left to Alex Ross (61) and Sam Billings (44) to form a good partnership to get them home.

So an excellent start to the campaign and one that will give them confidence.

Venue & conditions

We’re at the iconic MCG for this one. And you know what that means: big boundaries and huge outfields so batsmen will need to be prepared to run lots of twos and threes if they’re not able to find the boundary.

The Stars may decide to bat first after what happened on Sunday.

The Thunder look well-equipped to do either so stand-in skipper Chris Green won’t be too fussed if he loses the toss.

Stars v Thunder Winner Prediction

Recommended Bet: Back the Sydney Thunder @ 2.04 with 10CRIC

The Thunder are the bet here. There’s little or nothing to choose between them on the head to head, both long-term or in the last couple of seasons.

And yes, the Stars are at home for this one but the key here could be the availability of personnel for both teams.

The absence of Khawaja is a big blow to the Thunder and to a lesser extent, so is Davies.

But despite the likely inclusion of Russell, the Stars are missing far more important players because they could be without as many as four.

And they could struggle here against a team whose bowling was very sharp and the other day and whose batting was very clinical.

Go with the Thunder as outsiders.

Here’s our 10CRIC review, by the way, where you can see why they’re one of our recommended sites.

Today’s Melbourne Stars vs Sydney Thunder Hot Bet

Hot Bet: Back Adam Zampa to be Stars Top Bowler @ 5.56 with 10CRIC

Zampa didn’t have a particularly great game the other day, going for 34 runs without taking a wicket.

But then again, no-one had much joy with the ball that day for the Stars, which is why they conceded 213 runs.

But Zampa is the real class act here and one of the key reasons why Australia won the World Cup.

His BBL record is very strong and particularly at the MCG.

With Coulter-Nile still out and Russell somewhat unlikely to bowl his four overs, he may not have too much to beat.

Stars vs Thunder fun statistics

Time to round things off with some fun facts ahead of the game.

• The Stars will hope Stoinis is available. No-one has scored more runs in this fixture than his 359.
• And the Thunder wish Khawaja was around. He scored one of only two centuries in this game; Test opener David Warner scored the other.
• Somewhat unsurprisingly, Zampa is the top wicket-taker in this encounter with 16 wickets over the years.
• The Stars are currently rock bottom in the Bash with one defeat from one game and a shocking net run rate of -7.600.