Melbourne Renegades v Hobart Hurricanes: Big Bash Thursday preview

Melbourne Renegades suffered a five-wicket defeat to Sydney Sixers in the opening game of their 2024/25 Big Bash campaign and they will aim to respond against Hobart Hurricanes in Geelong on Thursday.

The Hurricanes have an excellent recent record against the Renegades, winning four of the last five meetings, but neither side made the play-offs last season.

Hobart, along with Melbourne Stars, are the only BBL franchise never to have won the competition although they reached the final in 2013/14 and 2017/18.

All-rounder Will Sutherland scored 36 not out and took 2-20 against the Sixers in his first game as Renegades captain and he will be hoping for more support from his teammates on Thursday.

Melbourne Renegades v Hobart Hurricanes betting preview

Renegades openers pose Powerplay threat

Melbourne Renegades are looking to openers Jake Fraser-McGurk and Josh Brown to get them off to a flyer and they delivered, briefly, against the Sixers.

Fraser-McGurk cracked 21 off 12 balls before being dismissed in the third over while Brown, who starred in Brisbane Heat's Big Bash triumph last season, contributed a 10-ball 22.

He was caught at deep midwicket off the final delivery of the Powerplay and the sense is that the Renegades openers are here for a good time, not a long time.

Even so, their explosive potential means they are prominent in the Player of the Match betting with Fraser-McGurk, whose T20 career strike-rate is just under 153 runs per 100 balls, at 9.00.

Brown smashed an extraordinary 140 from 57 balls for the Heat in last season's Challenger victory over Adelaide Strikers and also top-scored with 53 in the final.

He is 9.00 to be Player of the Match against the Hurricanes, who have a dangerous array of pace bowlers including captain Nathan Ellis, Riley Meredith, Billy Stanlake and experienced England international Chris Jordan.

Hobart hope for big-hitting heroics from David

There is a familiar look to the Hobart Hurricanes squad as stalwarts Ben McDermott, Matthew Wade, Caleb Jewell and Tim David have been retained by the franchise.

Hobart's batters struggled to impose themselves on the competition last season with only McDermott and Mac Wright, who is still recovering from a knee injury, passing 200 runs.

David, one of the most fearsome T20 hitters in world cricket, had a quiet campaign, scoring 112 runs at a strike-rate of 135 and amassing only seven sixes in nine appearances.

The Hurricanes need him to get back to his brutal best and he can be backed at 7.00 to be their Top Batter on Thursday.

David hit 10 sixes from the 84 balls he faced while playing for Delhi Bulls in the Abu Dhabi T10 in November and December while West Indies star Shai Hope is at 5.00 to top-score in Hobart's first game.

Hope, a prolific ODI runscorer for the Windies, has moved through the gears in T20 cricket this year. He has scored 354 runs in 13 T20Is and his 2024 strike-rate of 164 is a major improvement on rates of 130, 77 and 100 in the previous three years.

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Melbourne Renegades v Hobart Hurricanes odds

Melbourne Renegades - 2.05
Hobart Hurricanes - 1.78

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This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.