The last time these two teams met was not long ago when the Stars, even after reaching the closing distance of a victory, couldn't finish the game and choked on it. This was however not the first time that Stars gave away a game like that. In fact, they have ended up losing their last three games, two of which were pretty close affairs while in one they were just blown away by the Thunder team.
Hurricanes on the other hand have had a solid first half in the tournament, winning five of their seven matches, and are at their position just two points below the table-toppers Thunder. Therefore a Malan strong team would like to continue on their winning ways before their stalwarts in Matthew Wade and Tim Paine join for a final hurrah.
In their last two games that they lost, Stars haven’t really been able to get any help from other players apart from the skipper Glenn Maxwell. The matter of fact is that nobody apart from Nicholas Pooran even tried to stand alongside him during the batting.
The likes of Marcus Stoinis, Hilton Cartwright, and Nic Maddinson really haven’t got going and that is a worrying sign for a team that was flawless last year. The bowling has not been up to the mark either and with Adam Zampa serving a two-match ban, it has weakened more than one would have thought. Added to that is the injury to Nathan Coulter Nile and the nonavailability of Dibar Hussain.
But it is in these circumstances only that the Stars have to pick themselves up and show what they are made up of as a team.
Hurricanes on the other hand are in a good form and would want to make the best use of home conditions to get as many points as possible before playing away games. The combination of batting giants Colin Ingram and Dawid Malan along with some disciplined bowling from Scott Boland and Nathan Ellis has given Hurricanes what they were looking for.
In this combination, the role of all-rounders like James Faulkner and Tim David becomes even more important. And if Hurricanes are able to strike the right balance once again, they might as well be in for another victory.
Venue: Blundstone Arena, Hobart
Date and Time: January 4, 10:35 AM IST, 04:05 PM Local, 5:05 AM GMT
Broadcaster: Sony Sports Network, Sony LIV
It has been a trend in Hobart that true wickets would have something both for the bowlers and the batters and that continued even in the last game. An average score and a good fight between the ball and the bat. That would be on the menu in this game too.
According to the Meteorological department, the city could witness up to five hours of rain in the morning and the cloud cover would remain throughout the day. The game starts at 1605 hrs local time and hence the captains would keep rain, clouds, and duck-worth lewis at the back of their minds while coming for the bat flip. Hence a captain deciding to field first would be taken in as a normal decision.
Melbourne Stars Strongest XI
Marcus Stoinis, Nick Larkin, Nic Maddinson, Hilton Cartwright, Glenn Maxwell(c), Nicholas Pooran(w), Ben Dunk, Liam Hatcher, Lance Morris, Billy Stanlake, Zahir Khan
Hobart Hurricanes Strongest XI
D'Arcy Short, Ben McDermott (wk), Dawid Malan, Peter Handscomb (c), Colin Ingram, Tim David, Johan Botha, Nathan Ellis, Scott Boland, Riley Meredith, Sandeep Lamichhane
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