Manuka Oval Canberra pitch report: Canberra pitch report for Sydney Thunder vs Melbourne Stars BBL 2022 match

Sydney Thunder will take on Melbourne Stars in the opening game of the Big Bash League 2022-23 at the Manuka Oval in Canberra. This is the first match of the tournament, and the track of Canberra will be looked at with a keen interest in this match.

Sydney Thunder have some really aggressive players in their ranks, and Jason Sangha will be captaining them this season. Alex Hales and Rilee Rossouw are the overseas players of this side. Daniel Sams and Chris Green will again be the leading all-rounders of the Thunder.

Melbourne Stars will be led by Adam Zampa this season in the absence of Glenn Maxwell. Marcus Stoinis and Joe Clarke will be opening the innings for the Stars, and they will be handy in this match as well. With the arrival of Luke Wood and Trent Boult, the bowling looks strong as well.

Manuka Oval Canberra pitch report

Canberra’s Manuka Oval will be hosting the first BBL game of the tournament, and this surface has been a competitive one where both batters and bowlers have enjoyed playing. A fresh track will be used for this match which should favour the batters, and they will be able to play their shots.

There is a true bounce on this track, and the batters will enjoy that. The outfield of this ground is quite fast as well, and the batters will get a full reward for their shots. It has been seen that the pacers have enjoyed bowling on this track, and they will again be very vital here in the initial overs.

A total of 4 T20Is have been played here, where the average 1st innings score is 152 runs, whereas the average 1st innings in T20 domestics have been 169 runs. So, this is a good track for batting with the pacers getting some advantage in the initial overs. Both captains would look to bowl first upon winning the toss.