BBL7 - Strikers v Thunder Preview (Plus the Lurker's Pick and Bank)

Adelaide Strikers (0-0) v Sydney Thunder (0-0) @ Adelaide Oval  
 
Head to Head History - Adelaide Striker 3, Sydney Thunder 3
 
Last 5 - Adelaide Strikers 3, Sydney Thunder 2
 
Adelaide Strikers 13 Man Squad  - Travis Head (c), Wes Agar, Alex Carey+, Jono Dean, Colin Ingram, Rashid Khan, Ben Laughlin, Jake Lehmann, Peter Siddle, Billy Stanlake, Jake Weatherald, Jonathan Wells, Nick Winter

Sydney Thunder 13 Man Squad - Shane Watson (c), Kurtis Patterson, Aiden Blizzard, Callum Ferguson, Ben Rohrer, Ryan Gibson, Joe Buttler +, Chris Green, Farad Ahmed, Grinder Sandhu, Arjun Nair, Mitch McClenaghan, Andrew Fekete
 
Preview - The Sydney Thunder will be gunning for back-to-back victories when they head to Adelaide to take on the Strikers on Friday night. The Thunder won a scrappy but captivating game on the final ball against their arch rivals, the Sixers, and have a great opportunity here to entrench themselves in the Top 4 after three Rounds. Having watched the opening three nights of BBL7, the Strikers will be raring to go in front of what is sure to be a jam packed Adelaide Oval. The Strikers have been disappointing in the past couple of years, missing the finals in both seasons and managing just three wins last year. 
 
Big Batting Battle - Colin Ingram V Shane Watson - It's likely Shane Watson will feature in each of every one of the Thunder's "Big Batting Battles" given the solo act he provided for his team against the Sixers. Watson looked in glorious touch on Tuesday night, whilst Ingram will be looking to make an impact on his debut for the Strikers. Ingram won the Professional Cricketers Association MVP for England’s T20 blast in 2016, with 502 runs at a strike rate of 164, with 29 sixes, for the Welsh side. Middle-order mauler Ingram followed this up with 564 runs in nine matches at a 104 strike rate, and a staggering 29 sixes, in the One-Day Cup earlier this year.
 
Big Bowling Battle - Fawad Ahmed v Rashid Khan  - Fawad Ahmed was mesmeric for the Thunder on Tuesday night, taking 2/11 from his four overs. Ahmed had some of the Sixers’ best batsmen all at sea with his wrong’un and canny changes of pace and angles. Khan has an outstanding T20 record, taking 112 wickets from 78 games, as well as an unbelievably good economy rate of 5.84. The Adelaide Oval is short square of the wicket so both spinners will have to show all their guile tonight to be effective. 
 
Ground Dynamic - Adelaide Oval - I would have the Adelaide Oval as second only to The Gabba as the best batting surface in the BBL. The boundaries are much shorter square of the wicket, so it's not the easiest ground to bowl spin on, and the quicks need to be careful with the short ball as it can go the journey. I expect teams to bowl a lot fuller here to try and defend the straighter boundaries, whilst I also think the team that bats first will be looking for a score between 180 and 190 to be confident of victory. 
 
THE LURKER'S PICK (2-1) - Adelaide Strikers  "The Strikers will be fired up to start their season with a win in front of their home fans. The Thunder might have scrambled across the line against the Sixers but there was plenty of stink about their batting outside of Watto. Strikers win this to give me 3 W's in a row, 
 
 The LURKER'S 10-UNIT BANK (Running Tally = -6.3 Units) 

(Tab odds)

7 Units on Adelaide Strikers to win at $1.80

1.5 Units on Jake Weatherald to score 25+ into a Strikers win @ $4.25 

1.5 on Strikers to win by 21-40 runs or 5-7 wickets @ $3.75