On Friday the 16th of December, it is a double-header in the BBL, with the first match seeing the Melbourne Stars take on the Hobart Hurricanes at the MCG. It is the Hurricanes’ first game of the season, while the Stars will be looking to pick up their first win after a loss in their first match.
The Melbourne Stars came agonisingly close in their first match but lost to the Sydney Thunder in a low-scoring game off the last ball of the match. Positives for the Stars were definitely their fielding with some exceptional catching and their bowling as the Stars bowlers picked up regular wickets and were almost able to defend a very low total.
However, the Stars are already missing Glenn Maxwell and will now be missing two more of their best players. All-rounder Marcus Stoinis has unfortunately tested positive for Covid-19, while batsman Joe Burns, suffered a hamstring injury when batting against the Thunder.
The Hobart Hurricanes are coached by Ricky Ponting in this season of the BBL. He has built a very strong squad in the off-season, signing the likes of Zak Crawley, Jimmy Neesham, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, and Asif Ali. While there are other Hurricanes stalwarts, who are exceptional T20 players in their own right, that being Matthew Wade, Tim David, D’arcy Short, Ben McDermott, Nathan Ellis, and Riley Meredith.
Hobart are chasing their first-ever BBL title, but with Ricky Ponting as their coach and one of their strongest-ever squads, they definitely have a good chance to do so. With Melbourne’s injury concerns, we expect the Hurricanes to get off to a winning start and beat the Stars
BETTING TIP: Hobart Hurricanes to win the match @ 1.65 with bet365
BONUS BETTING TIP: Hobart Hurricanes to reach the final of BBL 2022-23 @ 2.5 with bet365
