Sydney Sixers vs Sydney Thunder, BBLT20, Today Match Prediction

SYS vs SYT Match Prediction & Analysis

Crosstown rivals Sydney Sixers and Sydney Thunder are all set to light up the Sydney Derby this Friday night.

The Sixers had Sydney Thunder in all sorts of trouble when they locked horns at Sydney Underground Stadium late last year before rain came down hard and the match was called off. And, now, it’s an important fixture for both teams, with the Sixers currently sitting pretty on third position and team Thunder languishing in the bottom with just 1 win in 7 games.

The Thunder need two points badly to stay alive in the contest whereas the Sixers would be eyeing a win for a place in the qualifiers. As far as head-to-head statistics go, Sydney Sixers, the perennial favourites, have a clear upper hand. Out of the 23 times these teams have met so far in BBL, the Sixers have won 16 times compared to 7 from the Thunder.

TEAMS PREVIEW

Sydney Sixers Preview

The Sixers may be on the third position in the table, but given how the competition for the qualifiers is hotting up they would need the two points from this game more than the Thunder. Hard on the heels of the great Sydney side are Melbourne Stars, Adelaide Strikers and Hobart Hurricanes with 8 points, 7 points and 6 points, respectively.

Winning the Sydney Derby means Sixers can pull clear from the teams giving chase and gain some confidence before they travel further West to take on Perth Scorchers in their final fixture for this season’s group stages. Sixers’ trip to Melbourne was successful where they wrapped up the 157-run chase with 11 balls to spare, snapping the 4-match winning streak of the Stars. After Todd Murphy foxed the Stars’ middle order batters with a brilliant two-wicket spell including maverick batter Glenn Maxwell who was slowly starting to come into his own, they lost opener Josh Philippe cheaply.

But Daniel Hughes steadied the ship and combined with James Vince for a crucial 99-run partnership for the second wicket, steering the Sixers to a comfortable victory. Sydney Sixers are well placed at the moment with someone in the team contributing with the bat or ball. With the business end of the tournament upon us, captain Moses Henriques would be hoping to make a huge contribution to the team with both bat and ball in what has been a sub-par season given his standards.

Sydney Sixers Predicted Playing XI:

Josh Philippe (wk), James Vince, Daniel Hughes, Moises Henriques (c), Jordan Silk, Tom Curran, Jack Edwards, Sean Abbott, Ben Dwarshuis, Todd Murphy, Steve O'Keefe.

Sydney Sixers Actual Playing XI:

Sean Abbott, Josh Philippe, Todd Murphy, James Vince, Moises Henriques, Jordan Silk, Hayden Kerr, Jack Edwards, Steve O'Keefe, Steven Smith, Ben Dwarshuis

Sydney Thunder Preview

Currently placed 7th on the table, Sydney Thunder have just a solitary win against Melbourne Stars to show from 7 matches. What’s worse, the five matches that they lost were all drubbings. Even though they have got three more matches to play, their tournament is as good as over. Mathematically, they are still in the running and can still qualify through to finals if they win their remaining fixtures and some of the other results go in their favour. But it’s all looking bleak.

They would be kicking themselves for not playing a braver brand of cricket early on in the tournament and leaving their qualification to chance like they’ve done now. Their batting and bowling have been exposed in challenging conditions. Lack of form and consistency of key players including English recruits Alex Hales, Tom Kohler Cadmore has proven to be a difficult problem for them to solve. In-form batters namely Cameron Bancroft and Ollie Davies aren’t scoring runs fast, either. Because their bowlers lack the bite to run through any batting order, they end up leaking runs and allow oppositions to put up totals beyond reach of their batters.

They’ve got three more matches to fix things if they want to make it to finals. Rumour has it that David Warner will be slotted in the playing XI for this match, and that should be a big morale boost for the struggling side.

Sydney Thunder Predicted Playing XI:

Alex Hales, Cameron Bancroft, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Matthew Gilkes (wk), Oliver Davies, Alex Ross, Daniel Sams, Nathan McAndrew, Chris Green (c), Gurinder Sandhu, Tanveer Sangha.

Sydney Thunder Actual Playing XI:

Chris Green, Nathan McAndrew, Tanveer Sangha, Daniel Sams, Oliver Davies, Alex Hales, Cameron Bancroft, Liam Hatcher, David Warner, Toby Gray, Tom Kohler Cadmore

PITCH AND WEATHER CONDITIONS

Weather Conditions

The SCG strip, more often than not, plays true to its character, offering plenty of assistance to both batsmen and bowlers. The forecast for the evening is mostly sunny and we should not see any rain if it holds.

SYS vs SYT Pitch Report

Sydney Cricket Ground is going to be hosting this Sydney derby. Although it is not a fort for the home team yet, Sydney Sixers have enjoyed a fair amount of success here winning 35 out of the 57 games they’ve played here across all seasons.

Toss: To Bowl

The home team has found chasing to be a lot easier than defending totals this season, so don’t be surprised if they put Sydney Thunder in to bat first upon winning the bat flip.