Sydney Thunder vs Sydney Sixers Prediction

Team News

Sydney Sixers could be without their front-line bowlers Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Jackson Bird who are all away on national duties. Their bowling attack could be weakened further if one of Nathan Lyon or Steve O’Keefe leaves to play for Australia.

Key Players

Nic Maddinson is a doubtful starter for this fixture which will put pressure on one of their most dependable batsman Brad Haddin and the recently recruited Jason Roy. Roy is averaging close to 30 in T20 format and we predict him to top-score for his side. Fast bowler Sean Abbott was their leading wicket-taker last year and he will be the biggest threat for Sydney Thunder.

Recent Form

Previous season was the worst they have had in the history of the Big Bash League where they could only muster two wins from their eight league matches and finished as the weakest team at the end of the league stage. They will be coming into this match with defeats in their last five games.

Thunder vs Sixers Head-to-Head

The two teams have so far played 9 BBL matches with each other of which 7 have been won by the Sydney Sixers and 2 by the Sydney Thunder. While the former won the first seven of these matches, the latter emerged winners in the last two which includes a win at this ground as well.

Thunder vs Sixers Betting Odds

Sydney Sixers have beaten Sydney Thunder seven out of the nine times they have played against them in the past. But in spite of this, they are starting as outsiders at 2.12 with betfair and 2.00 with bet365. Sydney Thunder have defeated the Sixers in their previous two meetings. They will enjoy playing their opening game at their home ground where they outplayed the Sixers last season. Sydney Thunder therefore are short favorites to win this match at 1.84 and 1.80 with betfair and bet365 respectively.

Thunder vs Sixers Prediction

Both teams are likely to miss many of their key players in this match and this is going to affect their performance. However, the Sixers will be the more depleted of the two as they will probably be without their entire front-line bowling attack. So they will find themselves in trouble if they fail to restrict the Thunder (who still won't be short on batting firepower despite losing Watson and Khawaja) to a low score. Sydney Sixers were very sloppy last season losing their last five league matches in a row while Sydney Thunder will come into this match all charged up after having won the title last time.

Final Verdict: We recommend betting on Sydney Thunder to win this match.