There is one match in the CSA T20 Challenge on Thursday as the competition ends for the two sides who are involved when the Warriors meet the Knights in what is a huge game for both of them at Kingsmead in Durban.
One of these two teams could end the day in third place in the table and with the Titans, the only team who could snatch that position away from them on Friday, having the leaders Dolphins, these two teams could be forgiven for thinking this is a knockout match.
Warriors
The Warriors go into the match in the better position of the two teams courtesy of having picked up a bonus point win when they took care of the Titans in their last match and any win for them here will move them up into third ahead of that last day of group matches. Technically a normal win could see the Cape Cobras overtake them but they would need an insanely big win which is unlikely, so it might be to the advantage of the Warriors that they only need to work about winning.
Warriors have been very consistent with the bat this season and although that has only accounted for the one win, with the pitches getting tougher to bat on the fact that they are still managing to score consistently is very encouraging. The other thing that is helpful is that their spinners and medium pacers are coming to the fore now so the Warriors will feel that they are in with a chance here even having played on Wednesday.
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Knights
This has been a disappointing campaign for the Knights but even with that they go into their final match with a chance of making it into the knockout stages. They not only have to win this but they need to win by a decent margin because of their weak net run rate. It is likely that in order to overtake the Titans in the race for third place the Knights will need to win by a bonus point margin so that will have to be their aim from the outset here.
The big problem for the Knights this season has been their batting. The only time they have scored more than 145 this season was when they won against the Cape Cobras, but the Cobras contributed 19 wides to the cause there so more than helped them on their way. When teams have chased scores down against them they have done it with enough overs in hand to suggest they would have scored 140 or more each time. That isn’t the greatest combination.
Betting
Both these sides have to win this match in order to keep their hopes alive but the fact that the Warriors only need to win and don’t need to pick up the bonus point makes me think they are in the better position here. Knights are going to need to take more risks in order to either put up a big enough score to restrict Warriors to a certain total, or to chase down whatever the Warriors get in their innings quickly enough for the extra point, neither of which will be easy at this start of the tournament.
The batting for the Knights has been a concern all tournament and with the Warriors starting to improve with the ball they might find it tough to compete in that department once again. Usually there is a reluctance to get involved in a team who played the day before but they’ve all had to do that a couple of times in this tournament so even that is only a minor concern. The Warriors look to be playing the better cricket anyway but with not needing to go gung ho I think they have a decent advantage here.
Tips
WON – Back Warriors to beat Knights for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Coral
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