Sydney Showground Stadium pitch report: ST vs AS today BBL match pitch report batting or bowling

Sydney Thunder will take on the Adelaide Strikers during the fifth match of the ongoing Big Bash League (BBL) 2022-23, at the Sydney Showground Stadium on Friday.

The Thunder did get off the mark with a win in the low-scoring, edge-of-a-seat thriller, during the opening match of the season versus Melbourne Stars on Tuesday, but would overall be disappointed with the way their batters went about with the chase.

The Adelaide Strikers too, got off to an ideal start to the season, by registering a thumping 51-run victory against the previous edition runners-up Sydney Strikers.

After comprehensive performances off the bat of three of their batters – Matthew Short (84 off 55), Chris Lynn (41 off 34) and Adam Hose (40 off 22), the bowling line-up stood tall while defending the challenging total of 184/6.

Henry Thornton (4-0-20-4), Rashid Khan (4-0-21-3), and captain Peter Siddle (4-0-20-0) were absolutely top-notch with their performances in their opening match.

The two sides are almost neck-to-neck in terms of the head-to-head records in the BBL history. Of the 17 BBL matches between these two sides, the Strikers have won 8, while the Thunder have prevailed 9 times.

Sydney Showground Stadium pitch report

The Sydney Showground Stadium has hosted a total of 26 T20 matches till date. The average score across these matches stand at 156.6 runs.

This pitch in Sydney is a fairly balanced one, with more or less equal purchase for both the batters and the bowlers. Having said that, the fast bowlers might not get the added advantage with the new ball, as the surface will not provide them with the seam movement to make lives challenging for the batters.

All in all, one should expect a high-scoring contest today, as the fresh pitch might well allow the batters to trust the bounce and go for their aggressive strokes. Expect the likes of Alex Hales and Rilee Rossouw to come good against the Strikers today at this surface.