Match: Hobart Hurricanes v Melbourne Stars
Date: 26 December, Monday
Time: 4:10pm SGT/1:40pm IST/8:10am GMT
Competition: Big Bash League 2016/17
Venue: Bellerive Oval, Hobart
TV Channel: In Singapore, Star cricket will provide live TV coverage of the match.
Live Streaming: Hotstar, Sky Go
Overview
Hobart Hurricanes will be high on confidence as they step into the Bellerive Oval for their second outing of the ongoing season, which also is the Twenty20 action on the Boxing Day, which is already witnessing three international fixtures.
Hobart decimated Sydney Sixers in their tournament opener on Friday by a huge margin of 60 runs and thus made a strong start, much to the delight of the fans and team management, who had seen the team suffer last season while finishing second from last.
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At the Sydney Cricket Ground, the focus was on Tim Paine and D'Arcy Short as the Hobart openers took the game away from the Sixers with a 80-run stand. Both the batsmen ended up slamming half-centuries as the team finished with 200 on the board. There were contributions from Kumar Sangakkara, Dan Christian and skipper George Bailey as well.
Pace bowling unit of Shaun Tait, Stuart Broad and Clive Rose made sure Sixers were humiliated at home. The upbeat Hobart unit will be raring to have a go at the Melbourne Stars, who are playing their first match of the season at the Bellerive Oval, which is expected to be a full house today.
Melbourne, who finished second last season, have it in them to survive the possible high-voltage atmosphere in Hobart. Led by David Hussey, the Stars have a dangerous line-up, consisting the likes of Glenn Maxwell, James Faulkner, Scott Boland, Marcus Stoinis and Adam Zampa along with England stars Kevin Pietersen and Luke Wright.
However, Pietersen will not be available for selection on the Boxing Day as he has flown back to England for Christmas celebrations. While the Stars would want to get their campaign up and running before their star batsman joins the team, Hurricanes will look to stitch a winning streak at home.
TV Schedule
Singapore: Star Cricket
India: Star Sports
US: Willow TV
UK: Sky Sports 2
Australia: Network 10
South Africa: Supersport
Team News
Hurricanes
Squad: Paine (c), Short, Sangakkara (wk), Bailey, Christian, Michael, Kingston, Tait, Boyce, Broad, Rose, Webster, Wells
Stars
Squad: Hussey (c), Beer, Gulbis, Harper, Maxwell, Quiney, Stoinis, Wright, Zampa, Coleman, Boland, Faulkner, Hilfenhaus
