The Big Bash is the T20 tournament in Australian domestic cricket and the 2015-16 season gets underway in December with the final due to take place on the 24th January next year. The Big Bash is big, brash, exciting and a great betting opportunity, so if you fancy a bet on Australia’s version of the IPL, read on as we take a look at the outright winner betting and offer up our betting tips, predictions and the best live odds comparison.
A quick glance at the outright winner market shows that the bookies are expecting this year’s Big Bash to be a close fought and unpredictable contest. The favourites are priced at best betting odds of 9/2, whilst the outsiders at the longest odds of the eight teams are priced at a still very viable 11/1. This might look like a nightmare for bettors but we’re confident that we’ve got the best value tip and we will be backing it with sizeable stakes.
Let’s start with the “rank outsiders” – we use that term loosely – the Sydney Thunder. Priced at odds of 11/1 with Unibet, Sydney’s “second” side don’t exactly have a proud Big Bash record, never having finished higher than seventh! They have a really experienced squad this year but look short on stars and we can discount them pretty easily.
The Thunder’s city rivals, the Sydney Sixers, are somewhat harder to discount, having finished runners-up last year and having won the Big Bash in the inaugural 2011-12 season. They have an aggressive bowling line-up, packed with fast, Australian bowlers who are either in or on the edge of the Test side. Their batting looks a little short and at odds of 7/1 with Bet365 we’ll look elsewhere.
The joint favourites in the outright winner betting are Melbourne Stars and Perth, at odds of 9/2 with Ladbrokes and Coral respectively. Melbourne have made the semis every single year in the Big Bash but never the final. They have some real star quality in the batting department, with Kevin Pietersen, David Hussey and arguably the two best all-rounders in the competition in James Faulkner and Glen Maxwell. They’ll post some big scores but we have our doubts about how well they’ll defend them.
And so, finally, we reach our T20 Big Bash outright winner betting tip – Perth. We predict that YET AGAIN the Scorchers will shine like the hot Perth sun and go all the way. They have a staggeringly good record in the Big Bash, losing the first two finals before winning the last two tournaments. Their young bowling attack might look a little thin but they have good variety and plenty of batsmen and all-rounders capable of clearing the ropes. Sadly they will largely be without captain Adam Voges, who’ll be with the Test side for most of the tournament, but even so, Perth’s winning experience makes them impossible to ignore.
Melbourne’s second side, the Renegades, are sure to be in with a shout and can be backed at odds of 5/1 with BetVictor, whilst Hobart (7/1 with Bet365) also look solid. Brisbane and Adelaide look a little out of their depth and so if you do want to oppose the Scorchers our tip would be to look more closely at Hobart. They have some of the best overseas talent in Kumar Sangakkara and Darren Sammy, won’t be disrupted too much by the Tests and are captained by George Bailey, one of Australia’s finest T20 exponents.
Overall though we just have to side with the Scorchers and we predict they will see off Hobart at the WACA to be crowned Big Bash champions once again.