Sydney Thunder (THU) will host the defending champions Perth Scorchers (SCO) on Monday, 8th January 2024. The match will happen at the Sydney Showground Stadium, Sydney. Let us look at THU vs SCO Dream11 prediction, top fantasy picks, match preview, probable XI and the likely winners.
Match Preview
The defending champs enjoyed an unbeaten run in the tournament until they met the struggling Adelaide Strikers on Friday. Scorchers lost to the Strikers by 9 wickets in a comprehensive manner at the Adelaide Oval. They lost the game with the bat when they only managed to put an under-par score of 153 batting 1st. And the Scorchers were blown away in the chase thanks to an unbeaten partnership between Matthew Short and Chris Lynn. The Scorchers would like to see the loss as an aberration but they do have a problem at hand.
Zak Crawley needs runs. After the 65* in his opening game versus the Hurricanes, Crawley has only managed to score 19 in the next three games. During the course of the tournament Copper Connolly got demoted and Sam Whiteman came in to the top order. So a win with runs from the openers will be the box Scorchers will be looking to tick come Monday when they meet the Thunder.
If the form of openers is the worry for Scorchers then the whole batting has been the problem for the Thunder. There hasn’t been any standout performance from the bat this season for the Thunder. Alex Hales with the bat has been the biggest disappointment this season. And his opening partner, Bancroft, has failed to convert his starts.
Considering the lack of experience in the middle order, Thunder depends heavily on these two to perform. However, not all is doom and gloom for the team as Daniel Sams has stood out with the ball in this season. In addition to that he is the leading wicket-taker of the season currently with 11 wickets. Though the Thunder will need a lot more than Sams to beat the Scorchers at the Sydney Showground Stadium.
Match Details
| Match : Sydney Thunder vs Perth Scorchers |
| Venue : Sydney Showground Stadium, Sydney |
| Date & Time : January 8, 2024, 1:45 PM |
| Live Steaming : Disney+Hotstar, Star Sports 2 |
Sydney Showground Stadium Pitch Report
The pitch at Sydney Showground Stadium is balanced track. Batsman find it difficult to score runs due to the two paced nature. The average score batting 1st here is just 152. The toss doesn’t matter as there isn’t much of difference in batting 1st or 2nd in terms of win percentage. That said the weather is not good on the game day with chance for isolated thunderstorms. So the teams would want to bowl 1st.
THU vs SCO Head-to-Head
The Sydney Thunder has a slight advantage over the Scorchers in matchups as the Thunder leads 9-8 in the previous 17 meetings. Not only that but also they have a 3-2 W/L ratio at the Sydney Showground Stadium. Nevertheless, when the last time these two played at the Showground Stadium, Thunder bowled out for 111 and lost the match by 9 wickets.
- Matches played – 17
- Sydney Thunder won – 9
- Perth Scorchers won – 8
THU vs SCO Probable 11
Perth Scorchers Playing XI: Zak Crawley, Sam Whiteman, Aaron Hardie (c), Josh Inglis (wk), Laurie Evans, Cooper Connolly, Ashton Agar, Jhye Richardson, Andrew Tye, Jason Behrendorff and Lance Morris.
Sydney Thunder playing XI : Cameron Bancroft (wk), Alex Hales, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Oliver Davies, Alex Ross, Daniel Sams, Nathan McAndrew, Chris Green (c), Gurinder Sandhu, Liam Hatcher and Tanveer Sangha
THU vs SCO Dream11 Prediction: Player Stats
| Sydney Thunder | Perth Scorchers |
|---|---|
| Cameron Bancroft (202 runs) | Aaron Hardie (251 runs & 1wkt) |
| Alex Ross (142 runs) | Josh Inglis (149 runs) |
| Oliver Davies (148 runs) | Laurie Evans ( 138 runs) |
| Daniel Sams (11 wkts and 90 runs) | Jason Behrendorff (9 wkts) |
| Tanveer Sangha ( 6 wkts) | Lance Morris ( 9 wkts) |
THU vs SCO Dream11 Prediction: Top Fantasy Picks
Sydney Thunder : Cameron Bancroft, Daniel Sams, Tanveer Sangha, Alex Ross, Chris Green
Perth Scorchers : Aaron Hardie, Josh Inglis, Jason Behrendorff, Lance Morris, Andrew Tye
THU vs SCO Dream11 Prediction Team
Wicket Keepers – Josh Inglis, Cameron Bancroft
Batters – Alex Ross, Zak Crawley
All-rounders – Aaron Hardie(c) , Daniel Sams(vc), Chris Green
Bowlers – Jason Behrendorff, Lance Morris, Andrew Tye, Tanveer Sangha
THU vs SCO Match Prediction
The Scorchers will be hoping to put behind the minor setback at the hands of Adelaide couple of days ago. With Knockouts in sight, they will looking to bounce back with a thumping win over the Thunder. Perth Scorchers are clear favourites here.
