Ford Ranger Cup

Western Australia v Tasmania
24th October 03:15 GMT

Tonight's match sees my two ante post selections for the Ford Ranger Cup going head to head in what should be a terrific encounter.
In terms of the personnel at the disposal of each team we should consider that Western Australia do have a significant advantage of terms of the amount of games who can win a match off of their own back. Adam Voges, Shaun Marsh and Luke Pomersbach are all extremely dangerous performers with the bat and can produce match-winning performances.
The Warriors do have a strong batting lineup which inculdes the three aforementioned names along with Luke Ronchi and Marcus North who are also excellent batsmen that can do some damage. What is important to their cause is that the batting line can be extended by the extra spin overs bowled by North, Voges and Pomersbach which can decrease the work load of the main bowlers.
The Tigers batting lineup is short on stars but high on substance and quality. Travis Birt is not the most consistent of batters but he can be dangerous if he gets going with the bat but he needs to learn how to kick on and get the big match-wining knocks.
Despite the quality of the Tigers batting, the depth and capabilities of the Warriors gives them the edge with the bat.
In terms of the bowling side of things both teams have two main strike bowlers worth talking about. Without Mitchell Johnson being around at present (he is currently playing for the Aussie national team in India), the bulk of the pace bowling will be carried out by Ben Edmondson and Steve Magoffin who are both pretty reliable performers on the whole.
The Tigers look to Brett Geeves and Ben Hilfenhaus as the main wicket-taking threats and they are very comparable to the main men of their counterparts but the problem for them is that the bowling can be accused of lacking depth at times.
Another thing to consider with this is that Hilfenhaus suffered an injury during the Sheffield Shield encounter between the two teams (won by the Warriors) and is considered a doubt. This would be a massive blow to the chances of the Tigers as he is a key player for them.
Through analysis of the two teams I would consider that the likelier winner is certainly Western Australia. Having just beaten the Tigers (albeit in a different format), having home advantage, more match-winners and less injury concerns it just seems logical to expect the Warriors to triumph.
On what could be a tricky pitch, if I were the captain winning the toss I would choose to field first and restrict the opponents to less than 240 runs and back my team to knock the runs off. Easier said than done!
At 1.72 there is more than enough value in that price and hopefully we can notch up another winner.

RECOMMENDATION - 3 Points on Retravision Warriors (Western Australia) @ 1.72 (Stan James)

Crafty Stan