Something curious happened the last time Adelaide Strikers played a Big Bash match. Rashid Khan, the best T20 spinner in the world by a distance, did not win top bowler honours against the Sydney Thunder. Bad news for us because we backed him to do. Good news? He still won the player of the match gong. We backed him for that, too.
The Strikers and Rashid are in action again on Thursday when they take on the Sydney Sixers at the Sydney Cricket Ground, a venue internationally renowned for assisting spin bowlers. So our anticipation at another Rashid-inspired winner is building.
More good news. The bookies remain sluggish to recognise the Afghan wonder-kid’s talent. He is not favourite for player of the match when he should be. Betfair and 888Sport have him available at +1000. We’ll take it thanks very much. There are five players ahead of him in the betting, all of them batsmen which tells you a lot about this sport.
Cricket is a batsman’s game. Spectators pay to see batsmen bat, not bowlers bowl. The latter are there to serve up ammunition for the former to blitz to all parts of the ground. But there are signs that the Big Bash is set to be enthralled to Rashid.
Against Thunder Rashid took two wickets for 22 with an economy rate of 5.5. He didn’t take the most wickets, nor was he the most economical. But what he did do was swing the game in Adelaide’s favour. He took wickets in an over, just when Thunder looked like they were getting on top in a chase.
That’s terrific news for fans of the subtle arts of the game. It’s not always about the bloke who scores the most runs. And it’s great news for us as we continue to back Rashid to do the business on the man of the match award market.
With Ben Laughlin pipping him to the top bowler with four wickets and improving his strike rate so it is superior to Rashid’s you would think we’d plump for Laughlin on top bowler. Not a bit of it. The Sydney track should suit our man and we like the +300 Betfair offer about top bowler. Laughlin is +265 with green-listed bookmaker, Paddy Power.
Laughlin, for the record, is +1400 (888Bet) for player of the match. It’s not a bad wager, as you would expect, because of the strike rate we talked about. Jason Roy, England’s flat-track bully boy opener, is +800 favourite with William Hill.
Calculators
