With just six group-stage fixtures of the Big Bash League (BBL) 2015-16 to play out, pressure is set mount and the need to jostle for a top-four spot is bound to rise up on the priority list. For the fourth-placed Sydney Thunder and the sixth-placed Melbourne Renegades, their clash in the Sydney Showdown Stadium on Tuesday (January 11) comes as an opportunity to strengthen their chances of making it to the knock-outs. Thunder have gone from a rollicking start - with three consecutive wins - to a continued slump - with three successive defeats - but have reasons to be optimistic before going up against the Renegades as Usman Khawaja returns and Michael Hussey is in race against time to regain fitness.Hussey, skipper of Thunder, is his team's leading run-scorer this season with 223 at at an average of 74.3. The 40-year-old veteran is said to have passed his latest fitness test on Saturday and will be assessed on the morning of the fixture. Khawaja returns to the side after the tour of West Indies, where he amassed scores of 174, 9, 121, 144 and 56.
His form this summer has just been incredible," Hussey was quoted as saying on Saturday, by cricket.com.au. Hussey also acknowledged the need to turn their season around if they are to march into the next stage, saying: "We want to turn that around pretty quickly and get some momentum. If we can turn it around and get some momentum we'll be in good shape coming into the finals. It's important as a team and as a support staff that we don't panic."If Hussey is indeed fit to feature on Monday, he will join a bolstered batting line-up consisting of Jacques Kallis, Khawaja, Shane Watson and Andre Russell. A win will help Thunder claim eight points from seven fixtures and create a two-point deficit between them and the fifth-placed side.Renegades were off to a bright start in their first fixture but losses and a massive controversy have followed suit. Just when they seemed to have arrested the slide - of three losses - Gayle's unsavoury on-air comments to a TV reporter took the sheen away from a much-needed win and turned all the focus (and a lot of social media outrage) towards them. As the negativity did not die down easily, Gayle slumped to a run-a-ball 21 in his side's fourth defeat of the season on Saturday.
If they are to still go through, Renegades need Gayle to recapture his menacing, rampaging batting form. Dwayne Bravo, another senior player and a seasoned T20 star in their ranks, will need to lend his countryman support on the field. A win will take Renegades to six points from seven games - with just Net Run Rate separating them from Hobart Hurricanes and Thunder - the two teams above them on the points table.
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