Stars vs Thunder, Team news
After a win in the first game of their season, the Stars come out again on Saturday to face the Sydney Thunder. Like with the last two seasons, the Stars appeared really strong on Friday and have a terrific squad this time around. Stars are likely to stick to the same squad for this game as well.
The Thunder, meanwhile, will be without Sam Billings for the first few matches. The rest of the squad isn’t too strong either and unless a couple of the guys have a tremendous day, it’s likely an easy win for the Stars again. Their big star, and most watched out one for the season, will be the new signing from Heat, Ben Cutting.
Overall squads
Sydney Thunder: Sam Billings, Jonathan Cook, Ben Cutting, Oliver Davies, Brendan Doggett, Callum Ferguson, Matt Gilkes, Chris Green, Alex Hales, Baxter Holt, Usman Khawaja, Nathan McAndrew, Adam Milne, Arjun Nair, Alex Ross, Daniel Sams, Jason Sangha, Tanveer Sangha, Chris Tremain
Melbourne Stars: Hilton Cartwright, Jackson Coleman, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Ben Dunk, Andre Fletcher, Seb Gotch, Liam Hatcher, Clint Hinchliffe, Dilbar Hussain, Zahir Khan, Nick Larkin, Nic Maddinson, Glenn Maxwell, Jono Merlo, Lance Morris, Tom O’Connell, Nicholas Pooran, Will Pucovski, Billy Stanlake, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa
Perth vs Renegades, Team News
Perth Scorchers and Melbourne Renegades open their season on Saturday. Both have strong squads this time around. While Perth are strong on the bowling front with several local Australia pace bowlers, Renegades have a terrific batting core with the addition of Rilee Rossouw and Shaun Marsh.
Aaron Finch is available for the Renegades throughout the season and will be a massive boost for them. The Scorchers will be banking on their bowling attack led by Jason Behrendorff and Jhye Richardson to make early inroads. Jason Roy, Liam Livingstone and Cameron Green aren’t available for the Scorchers now.
For Renegades, Tahir, Nabi, Will Sutherland, Imad Wasim, James Pattinson and Marcus Harris are unavailable for this game. This could mean Benny Howell gettting a game in an overseas slot.
Overall squads
Melbourne Renegades: Noor Ahmad, Cameron Boyce, Brody Couch, Zak Evans, Aaron Finch, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Sam Harper, Marcus Harris, Mackenzie Harvey, Peter Hatzoglou, Jon Holland, Benny Howell, Josh Lalor, Shaun Marsh, Mohammad Nabi, James Pattinson, Mitch Perry, Jack Prestwidge, Kane Richardson, Rilee Rossouw, Will Sutherland, Imran Tahir, Imad Wasim, Beau Webster
Perth Scorchers: Ashton Agar, Fawad Ahmed, Cameron Bancroft, Jason Behrendorff, Joe Clarke, Cameron Gannon, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Josh Inglis, Matthew Kelly, Liam Livingstone, Mitchell Marsh, Colin Munro, Joel Paris, Kurtis Patterson, Jhye Richardson, Jason Roy, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye, Sam Whiteman