Melbourne Stars vs Adelaide Strikers Prediction

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Peter Handscomb, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell and Adam Zampa are all available again after Australia’s ODI series with India, while Scott Boland is back from playing for the Cricket Australia XI against the Sri Lankan tourists. Handscomb’s availability, after being dropped from the test squad, is a bonus.

Maxwell took over the captaincy from Nic Maddinson last time out, but the latter retained his place in the starting line-up. With the other bowlers all in the wickets as the ODI stars returned, Boland could replace teenage newcomer Tom O’Connell in the only change from the derby win.

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Marcus Stoinis underlined his importance to the Melbourne Stars last time out, when he took 3-19 with the ball and hit an unbeaten 70 in the win against the Melbourne Renegades. He starred in the last derby too, before joining the Australian ODI squad, and now has seven wickets and 182 runs in his last three Big Bash appearances.

Glenn Maxwell scored runs in the middle order before his departure for the ODI squad – including an unbeaten 41 against Sydney Thunder – and will want to get back on track after scoring 85 from three innings in the one-dayers.

Peter Handscomb, meanwhile, hit two half-centuries for Australia and – prior to his return for the Victoria derby, had only played one Big Bash match and scored 70 runs in it, against Sydney Sixers.

In their absence, Ben Dunk has led the Stars’ batting, meanwhile, scoring 102 runs in the three games the big names missed. Dwayne Bravo contributed runs and wickets, meanwhile – as he has done all season. His 1-25 against the Renegades saw him end the innings with his tenth of this year’s tournament. Liam Plunkett took 2-21, meanwhile, showing improved control with his bowling to move to eight wickets in five games having replaced Bangladesh-bound Sandeep Lamichhane as the Stars’ second overseas player.

Adam Zampa’s return is a boost too – he took 2-29 last time out, and now has seven Big Bash wickets this season.

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Melbourne Stars lost all three matches they played without their international quartet but got back to winning ways when they returned for the Victoria derby last time out. In their absence, Ben Dunk scored 62 from 47 balls to set 146/6 against Perth Scorchers, but they fell to a six-wicket loss with 2.2 overs to spare.They were then bowled out for 137 in their next match – the last time they played Adelaide Strikers – despite Liam Plunkett having claimed four wickets to keep the Strikers to 178/5. Another below-par batting performance against Hobart Hurricanes then saw them bowled out for 126 in reply to 185/2.

Against Melbourne Renegades, Marcus Stoinis claimed 3-19 from his four overs and Liam Plunkett, Jackson Bird, Adam Zampa and Dwayne Bravo also chipped in with wickets to restrict the Gades to 121 all out. In reply, Stoinis scored an unbeaten 70 and the Stars bagged a much-needed six-wicket win.