BBL7 - Thunder v Renegades Preview (Plus The Lurker's Pick and Bank)

Sydney Thunder (4-5), Melbourne Renegades (4-4) @ Manuka Oval
 
Head to Head - Melbourne Renegades 5, Sydney Thunder 1
 
Last 5 - Melbourne Renegades 4, Sydney Thunder 1
 
Melbourne Renegades 13-Man Squad - Dwayne Bravo (c) , Tom Cooper, Marcus Harris, Brad Hodge, Brad Hogg, Jon Holland, Tim Ludeman+, Keiron Pollard,  Kane Richardson, Matt Short, Jack Wildermuth, Mackenzie Harvey, Chris Tremain
 
Sydney Thunder 13-Man Squad  -  Shane Watson (c), Kurtis Patterson, Aiden Blizzard, Ed Cowan, Jay Lenton, Ben Rohrer, Chris Green, Fawad Ahmed, Arjun Nair, Mitch McClenaghan, Gurinder Sandhu, Andrew Fekete, James Vince
 
Preview - The Sydney Thunder need a big win against the Renegades to keep their finals hopes alive in their last regular season match at Manuka Oval in Canberra tonight. The Thunder are sitting at 4-5, with a negative net run rate, but are still some chance of grabbing 4th spot off the Renegades if they can win and reverse that net run rate deficit. The Renegades are in freefall having lost their past three games to drop to 4-4, and need another win to be in the driver’s seat and claim 4th position on the table. 
 
Big Batting Battle - Shane Watson v Tom Cooper: Watson and Cooper, lock horns in this crunch battle here with plenty at stake. Plenty will fall on Watson, with Usman Khawaja being ruled out through injury. Watson was 49 not out in his last innings against the Stars, and is the third leading run scorer in BBL7, with 308 runs at an average of 38. With no cameron White or Aaron Finch plenty falls on the shoulders of Tom Cooper who has had a good BBL7 scoring 186 runs with a strike rate of 131. 
 
Big Bowling Battle – Fawad Ahmed v Brad Hogg – Ahmed has been in outstanding form again for the Thunder in BBL7, being the team’s leading wicket taker with 11 scalps at 19. Crucially, he is only going for 6 runs an over, making him a strike weapon and a bowler that is controlling the tempo. Hogg is retiring at the end of the season and teams have gone after him this year more than ever before. Whilst he has not been poor, taking 8 wickets at 33, he is going for over 8 runs per over which is not the control you want from a front line spinner. 
 
Ground Dynamic - Manuka Oval - You would expect, being the first BBL7 game in Canberra for the season, that we would get a really well prepared and good batting surface. The BBL5 grand final was played at Manuka Oval with the Scorchers defeating the Sixers in a final ball thriller. 
 
THE PROPHET'S PICK (20-16) - Melbourne Renegades 'No King Khawaja equals no Thunder" 
 
THE PROPHET'S 10 UNIT BANK (-62 Units) 

4 Units Renegades to win by 1-20 runs or 1-4 wickets @ $6

2 Units Renegades to score between 161-180 @ $2.75 (bet refunded f they don't bat first) 

2 Units (3 Units if Thunder bat first) Thunder high bat/bowler to be Watson/Ahmed @ $13.13

2 Units (3 Units if Thunder bat first)  Renegades high bat/bowler to be Ludeman/Wildermuth @ $18