Hobart Hurricanes vs Adelaide Strikers, BBL 2020/21, Match 8: Fantasy Preview

Hobart Hurricanes defeated Adelaide Strikers by 11 runs on Sunday. The Big Bash 2020/21 schedule will bring the two sides up against each other again on Tuesday (December 15). 

Historically, the Strikers are ahead of the Hurricanes, winning eight out of the 15 contests between the two sides with one game ending without a result. But all of it is in the past now since Hurricanes will possess the mental edge having dominated the Strikers for a major part in their previous game. 

Pitch, conditions and team combination

This will be the first match of the season in Launceston’s Aurora Park. One of the two venues in Hobart, Aurora Park has hosted only three games across the previous two BBL seasons. The average run-rate has been 8 runs per overs in those three games - not the best, not the worst.

The bowling stats are available from only two of those games and spinners have been at par with pacers. Hence, a balanced side, with in-form batsmen alongside the best spinners and pacers available in the contest shall be picked. Pacers, of course, get more opportunities to pick wickets since they bowl in the death overs. 

It will also be interesting to see how the two sides are framed. Both the teams welcome a crucial member of their side - Ben Mcdermott (Hurricanes) and Alex Carey (Strikers) - from the Australia A duties. Hurricanes, in particular, look well settled in their XI at present but it is tough to keep a batsman of Mcdermott’s calibre on the bench. 

Suggested Teams

While you could go for the above team, you also have the option of choosing your own team from Cricket.com’s Fantasy Research Centre. Based on algorithms we come up with six different teams that could fetch crucial points.

Captain Selection

Average 62.4, Strike-Rate 145.9. These are D’Arcy Short’s numbers in nine games  against Adelaide Strikers. He certainly relishes his time against them and used it to his advantage to recover from the duck he bagged in the season opener, against the Sixers. He will up against them once again on Tuesday. In addition, he has bowled in both the games thus far. The luck has not favored him with the ball as yet but it definitely provides a great opportunity to double your points. 

Our Criclytics player projector predicts Short could score 18-41 runs and pick 0-1 wickets in this match.

X-Factors

Colin Ingram has looked in supreme touch this season. In the first game, against Sydney Sixers, he rescued the Hurricanes from a precarious situation by scoring a fine fifty. In the second, he struck 25 from 19 balls before perishing in an attempt to up the ante. This year, he has scored 286 runs in T20 cricket, averaging 31.8 at a decent strike-rate of 144.4

Our Criclytics player projector predicts Ingram could score 16-39 runs in this match.

Rashid Khan did not have the greatest of starts to his BBL 2020/21 campaign. Short took him apart for  25 runs in an over. But Rashid continues to be a champion bowler - ranked No. 1 in T20I bowler rankings - and showed a hint of it when he came back to take a wicket. As said above, the Aurora Stadium has had something for spinners and there is no spinner better than Rashid. 

Our Criclytics player projector predicts Rashid could take 1-2 wickets in this match.

James Faulkner has been consistently giving good starts to the Hurricanes with the ball. In both games, he has picked a wicket with the new ball. Overall, he has 5 wickets, second-most in the season as yet. He appears to be in fine rhythm, executing his variations and even extracting subtle lateral movement, to add more wickets to his tally. 

Our Criclytics player projector predicts Faulkner could take 0-1 wickets in this match.