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Sydney Sixes began the 5th season terribly with a 36-run loss to the Thunder in the Sydney Derby. They will however be boosted by the return of Australian international Moises Henriques who will add much-needed depth to the Sixers’ side. Johan Botha batted up at number 6 in the previous game which certainly seemed to indicate a lack of depth in the setup.
Hobart, on the other hand, will be looking to start the tournament strongly and have made three wonderful additions to the side in Kumar Sangakkara, Shaun Tait and Dan Christian. They have let go of the in-form duo of English opener Alex Hales and Pakistan all-rounder Shoaib Malik which may come back to haunt them as the tournament progresses. In Tim Paine, George Bailey and a dangerous though slightly lacklustre Darren Sammy, the Hurricanes have a street-smart batting unit.
Squad
Sydney Sixers
SA Abbott, JM Bird, DE Bollinger, J Botha, RGL Carters, EJM Cowan, BJ Dwarshuis(wk), M Edwards, BJ Haddin, MC Henriques(c), NCR Larkin, TL Lawford, NM Lyon, NJ Maddinson, SNJ O'Keefe, JC Silk
Hobart Hurricanes
GJ Bailey, CJ Boyce, DT Christian, BR Dunk, JM Mennie, S Milenko, TD Paine(c)(wk), SL Rainbird, CA Rose, DJG Sammy,KC Sangakkara, SW Tait, JW Wells
Predicted XI
Sydney Sixers
Haddin, Lumb, Maddinson, Silk, Carters, Henriques, Botha, Abbott, Lyon, Bird, Bollinger
Hobart Hurricanes
Paine, Dunk, Sangakkara, Bailey, Wells, Christian, Sammy, Boyce, Rose, Mennie, Tait
Pitch Report
The match will be played at the home of the Sixers which is the SCG, that saw scores of 154, 154, 135 and 182 in the 1st innings of the 4th season. Both the scores of 154 were gunned down by the chasing sides whereas 135 was defended by the Perth Scorchers against Sixers who were skittled out for 99 runs. On paper, seems like at least 165 will be the target the side batting first will look to defend.
Key Players
Sixers: Lumb, Haddin, Henriques, Lyon
Hurricanes: Sangakkara, Bailey, Christian, Sammy
X-Factor
Sixers
Nic Maddinson: An out and out tonker of the cricket ball, Nic Maddinson is probably the only player on show tonight who can single-handedly win the game with the bat. If he fires all cylinders, one can expect the match to turn lopsided in no time.
Hurricanes
Shaun Tait: The world has seen what he is capable of. The best part about Shaun Tait is, if he bowls just one unplayable delivery every over, he can end up breaking the backbone of the sixers.
Predictions
Sixers are favourite to win the game at 1.84. This can largely be placed to the return of Henriques in the side and a palpable home ground advantage. However, I am backing Hurricanes to win the game owing to their solid batting line up.
If Sixers bat first, although the Hurricanes bowling is weak they can certainly chase down big scores. However, if Hurricanes end up batting first, it will be safe to place your bets upfront and expect a good first inning total.
