The Hundred continues on Thursday night when the defending champions Trent Rockets are back in action as they play host to the Manchester Originals in the latest of a series of huge matches in the competition.
These two are two of the four teams who are on five points for the competition heading into the evening and one of them will come off that number and give their hopes of progression a boost, while the others could be in trouble.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Sky Sports Main Event, Sky Cricket and Sky Mix channels with the build-up beginning at 6pm and the first ball at 6.30pm.
Trent Rockets
The Trent Rockets won their opening match in their defence of the title but then went missing for a period with a washout and a couple of hefty defeats to their name. They bounced back to form last time out when they took care of the Welsh Fire, although there were times in that match where the Fire threatened to come through and steal it, only for the excellent John Turner and the Rockets’ death bowling to shut the door on that happening.
That should give Trent a bit of a boost because we still haven’t seen the best of them with the bat in hand in this tournament. They are getting some individual performances to get them up to a score which they can be competitive with but we haven’t really seen anything from their openers to date and you would imagine that will need to change if they are going to make a successful defence of the title. The bowling looked in good shape in the previous game though.
Manchester Originals
The Manchester Originals also have five points to their name courtesy of a couple of wins, a pair of defeats and a washout. One of their losses was impacted by the rain too so they might feel a little hard done by to be in the position they are in, especially as they looked in control of the match which got washed out at the point that the rain arrived. Despite all that, the Originals are in a decent position to push on and make the latter stages for a second season in succession.
Manchester don’t tend to get involved in many close matches. Their two wins have been dominant by margins of 49 and 40 runs but their one full game loss was by an emphatic 94 runs so they will be looking to be a little more consistent in their performances. Their batting is where they need to find some consistency. There is an all or nothing feel about their top order which is never a good thing. In the main the bowling has travelled better than expected.
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Key Players
Colin Munro was the man who got the Trent Rockets up to score that they had a chance of defending in their previous match against the Welsh Fire and his big hitting could come in handy back at Trent Bridge.
Laurie Evans looked in wonderful touch against the Northern Superchargers last time out and if he can get after this Trent Rockets’ new ball attack it will allow the Manchester Originals to milk the spinners before going pongo at the end.
Betting
I was really surprised when looking through the markets to see a sixes line for this contest which is just 10.5. These are two of the deepest batting units in the competition. Jamie Overton came in at Headingley at six and clobbered the ball to all parts and he still had Usama Mir, who has clubbed many a ball in England this summer, Tom Hartley (who hit a six) and Ben Raine behind him. That is without mentioning the top five of Jos Buttler, Phil Salt, Laurie Evans, Paul Walter and Ashton Turner who are all adept at clearing the ropes.
We probably haven’t seen that right throughout the order for the Trent Rockets yet but there is no doubt that there is plenty of hitters in their side and it might be that this weakened Manchester bowling attack is the one to bring that big hitting prowess out of it. Trent Rockets could legitimately bat Lewis Gregory at eight which is ridiculous depth. Factor in that it has been eight days since there has been cricket on this ground so the wicket should be good for batting, and we know the boundaries are accessible, I expect this line to be covered.
Tips
Back Over 10.5 sixes for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with William Hill
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