Melbourne Renegades vs Sydney Thunder Tips - Thunder to start 2021 with a win

The Sydney Thunder are in superb form and are backed for victory against the struggling Melbourne Renegades. Alex Hales and Callum Ferguson both batted superbly in the last match and are tipped to continue their fine form.

The Melbourne Renegades have won three of their last five matches against the Sydney Thunder. They met just a week ago on Boxing Day where the Thunder destroyed the Renegades by 129 runs.

In that match the Renegades had to chase 209 runs but were bowled out for 80.

The Melbourne Renegades finished bottom of the Big Bash last season and it isn’t going much better this season. They are second bottom with one win in their five matches.

There is are big issues with the Renegades middle order as players continue to struggle for form. In their last match the Renegades batted first against the Sydney Sixers in Carrara and posted a competitive total of 168 runs.

It should have been higher after Aaron Finch (39) and Shaun Marsh (67) got them off to a good start. Once that 75-run opening partnership was broken things however fell apart with no other batsman scoring more than 18 runs.

The bowling effort was decent but the Sixers got home by one wicket off the penultimate ball of the innings. The Renegades will be concerned with Will Sutherland who went for 57 runs in his 3.5 overs.

The Melbourne Renegades are running short on options at the moment. Nothing they have tried has seemed to work but they need some sort of change. 

Will Sutherland could make way after a very disappointing bowling effort in the last match. On the batting front, a change of order may be required. 

Rilee Rossouw has looked promising at times this season and could move up to bat at three. He is a regular opening batsman so shouldn’t have a problem with it.

The Sydney Thunder are second on the BBL table after five matches with four victories. One of those victories came against the Melbourne Renegades on Boxing Day.

The Thunder have found a great balance within their squad with various batsmen contributing and the bowlers bowling well. Last time out the Thunder thrashed the Melbourne Stars by 75 runs in Canberra.

Alex Hales was magnificent at the top of the innings, smashing 71 off 29 balls. His innings included eight fours and five sixes. Hales was well supported by Usman Khawaja who scored 37 runs.

Callum Ferguson backed the openers up by scoring 51 as the Thunder went on to score 219 runs. The Stars could only managed 144 runs in reply with Chris Green the pick of the Sydney Thunder bowling, taking 4-34.

Sam Billings came in for his first start of the season in the Thunder’s last match. While he didn’t produce the goods with bat in hand he is likely to be given an extended run.

There shouldn’t be too many changes with the Thunder looking to retain momentum going into the second half of the season.