The rivalry week in The Hundred comes to an end on Saturday evening when the penultimate round of fixtures in the league phase of the competition draws to a close at The Oval where the Oval Invincibles host the London Spirit.
The reverse meeting of these two sides was washed out at Lord’s earlier in the campaign so bragging rights are on offer here but there is much more on the line for the Invincibles, who go into the match knowing that only a win keeps their qualification hopes in their own hands.
Oval Invincibles
The form line for the Oval Invincibles this season has been a pretty straightforward one. They have played three matches at The Oval and won the lot and they have had three matches away from their home ground and not won any of them, although the one at Lord’s was washed out. If they are going to make the final stages of the competition that is a run which is going to need to end because they will need to win in Southampton on Monday, but first they could do with keeping up their 100% record on their home patch.
Generally at home their bowling attack has used the conditions well. With Surrey playing the Royal London One Day Cup on this ground too the square is getting plenty of use at the minute and the used wickets play into the hands of their spinners in particular. They haven’t really fired like they can with the bat apart from at Edgbaston but that ground looks to be the anomaly in this competition so they could do with their batters contributing a lot more here.
London Spirit
We all know that this has been a wretched campaign for the London Spirit but they did take success for the first time in their last match and will be eager to spoil another party here, especially their local rivals with whom I’m sure a big rivalry will be formed over the coming seasons of this competition. If they can stop their closest rivals getting to the knockout stages of the competition it will build up a legacy that they can build from next season.
The interesting thing about that win at Old Trafford in midweek was that it was their batsmen and their death bowling which got the job done for them. You would say they are the two things they have struggled with right through this campaign so it has to be a positive that those two facets look to be coming good. They will have the wily presence of Shane Warne back from isolation for this match too so the Spirit shouldn’t be ruled out, especially when you consider they are playing with freedom now.
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Key Men
There have been a few surprises in this competition but the biggest one of them all would be if Eoin Morgan doesn’t open up with spin against Jason Roy so if the England opener can navigate his way through that period he could be in by the time the quicker bowlers come on and can take them apart as is his way.
You really need to be ahead of the rate at The Oval for when the spinners come on so Adam Rossington needs to get the Spirit off to another good start. That will allow them to milk the spinners a little bit and throw the Oval gameplan out of sync a little.
Betting
I’m expecting a competitive affair here and not one where either side will get away from the other. One of the reasons for that is because there has been a lot of cricket played at The Oval recently and they must be struggling for pitches now. This is the fourth home match of the Oval Invincibles in this competition and Surrey have had three matches in the Royal London One Day Cup here and have another on Sunday so they might be struggling to find fresh pitches to use.
That makes me think that the bowlers might be the ones to be with here, especially when you consider there will be a women’s match on this wicket earlier in the day too and the forecast for London is for it to be warm all day which will dry whichever pitch out. Eoin Morgan showed up at Manchester that he can use his bowlers well to restrict teams and Oval Invincibles do that as well. I still think London are a batsman light so when I weigh it all up the under 287.5 runs bet looks the best one here.
Tips
Back Under 287.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with Betway
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