Cricket betting tips: Melbourne Stars v Melbourne Renegades preview and best bets

Cricket betting tips: Melbourne Stars v Melbourne Renegades

1pt Glenn Maxwell top Melbourne Stars bowler at 13/2 (Betfred)

1pt Glenn Maxwell Man of the Match at 7/1 (General)

Melbourne Stars packed their XI with batting for the trip to Adelaide on New Year’s Eve, and that strategy certainly paid dividends as the men in green chased down 206 in 19 overs.

It was a terrific run chase from the Stars who have now won their last three, and it’s hard to see them wavering from that combination in the Melbourne Derby on Tuesday.

The other reason for this is that Pakistan bowlers Haris Rauf and Usama Mir remain unavailable due to international duty.

That will ensure the Stars batting is a fearsome proposition, but as a result, the bowling is threadbare and will need captain GLENN MAXWELL to shoulder plenty of responsibility.

Maxwell’s off spin remains underrated, but he was outstanding with the ball for Australia at the Cricket World Cup in India where playing a full role as the fifth bowler and finishing with the joint-best economy in the team along with Adam Zampa.

In this expected Stars line-up, he should get though plenty more work with the ball and that was the case when he claimed two of the four wickets his side took against Adelaide Strikers on New Year’s Eve.

I don’t see how that doesn’t play out against the Melbourne Renegades, especially when looking at their opponent's own batting order which featured three left handers in the top six in their last match.

Maxwell’s off spin should be bang in the game against those left handers, and with so little depth and quality elsewhere in the Stars attack, he looks a bet in the top bowler market at 13/2 (Betfred). In truth, anything in the region of 5/1 looks fine.

Given the year Maxwell has enjoyed, particularly at the World Cup when lighting up the tournament with his memorable double-hundred against Afghanistan, it makes sense to add Maxwell to be Man of the Match to the staking plan.

A big-match player, Maxwell has remained in fine touch with the bat and, blasting 35 not out and 28 in his last two Big Bash innings.

Given how important I think his bowling could be here, I want to keep him on side, for all 7/1 is on the limit in terms of the sort of price I want to play at.

Elsewhere, I toyed with the idea of backing Shaun Marsh for top Renegades batsman at 4/1.

Marsh remains a class act, who has returned from injury with scores of 59 and 54 in his own silky style.

If he stays fit, the Renegades ought to finish the season well after a disastrous start, but he’s in good company in a strong top seven and I’ll probably look at buying his runs in-play instead.

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