The final stages of the inaugural season of The Hundred begin on Friday evening when the Southern Brave take on the Trent Rockets in the Eliminator at The Oval with the Birmingham Phoenix awaiting the winners in the final on Saturday.
These two teams finished second and third in the table which means that they earned themselves this second chance to make it through to the showpiece showdown at Lord’s on Saturday evening. These two started their season against each other when the Rockets were resounding winners and one of them will end their campaign here.
Southern Brave
The Southern Brave began the competition very slowly with a couple of defeats from the outset but since then they have won five of their six matches with the other one rained off so they head into this eliminator as the form side and should be full of confidence as a result. They might have an advantage in that they have already effectively played knockout cricket in this tournament as their last group game was a do or die for them and the Oval Invincibles.
What would have pleased them most about that win is the fact that they handled the pressure of runs being on the board against them and still made it through. There appears to be no real discernible weakness in their side although the loss of Colin de Grandhomme for the final stages will be a bit of an annoyance. They still have batting cover though and they have a bowling attack which has gotten better the longer they have been in the competition.
Trent Rockets
After starting out their season with three pretty convincing wins, the Trent Rockets have since lost three of their last five, although it should be said that two of those defeats were to the Birmingham Phoenix and they look the standout side in the competition right now so maybe it would be harsh to be too critical of that. It still doesn’t bode well for them should they be the ones to play the Phoenix in the final though so they will need to overcome that issue down the line.
The concern for the Rockets will be that their bowling has just lost its way a little in recent matches. Luke Wood got injured and he has been a big loss but as the pitches have got flatter their attack has been found wanting a little. If they are going to win this tournament then they will need to tidy up in that area of the game but they might be helped in this Eliminator because The Oval allows spinners to be a part of the game which is perfect for the Trent Rockets.
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Key Men
You get the impression that the bowlers might be the ones to win the game for either side here and with the talk of Tymal Mills being a live outsider for the England World T20 squad getting louder this is an ideal chance for him to prove his worth and help the Southern Brave into the final.
When you consider what is going on back in his homeland, the mere fact Rashid Khan is still here competing as well as he is would be a credit to him but he is the key man for the Trent Rockets. If he can get stuck into four economical sets it would put the pressure on the Brave to attack someone they might not wish to.
Betting
I’ve a feeling the Trent Rockets match up well to the Southern Brave and as a result I’m happy to take the Rockets to come out on top in this match. I say that because they can bowl a lot of spin in the powerplay which is the weakness of Quinton de Kock and when you get him out of the way you can expose this Brave batting line up, a unit which will be devoid of the match-winner from the last match in Colin de Grandhomme.
If there is a concern over the Trent Rockets it would be that their batting hasn’t fired completely as one for a while but Dawid Malan has good memories of this ground in the past and the likes of Samit Patel and Steven Mullaney have a game that suits conditions here. The Brave prefer to play on flatter pitches where there is decent pace and bounce but they won’t get that here so for all that the Southern Brave have been in great touch recently, I’ll back the Rockets to end their tournament here.
Tips
Back Trent Rockets to beat Southern Brave for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with William Hill
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