After a couple of washouts we are expected to get some play in the double header of action in the Major League Cricket season on Sunday with the first match coming from Morrisville as the Washington Freedom take on the Los Angeles Knight Riders.
The Freedom have managed to avoid most of the rain that has done the rounds in this tournament to win the two games they have completed and they start this one top of the table while the Knight Riders sit fourth and need a win.
Washington Freedom
It is two wins from two completed matches for the Washington Freedom and they could well have made it three wins from three had there been another over in the game that they had washed out. The positive for the Freedom is that they have won matches in Morrisville and in Dallas so they seem to be able to adjust to the conditions at short notice and that is going to be an important thing over the remainder of this second season.
The other positive for Washington is that even though they are a side who are loaded at the top of the order with the bat, they showed last time out that even though their top order failed, they have the skill and the calmness to get the job done. What we did see in their win last time out in Dallas is that they have a number of bowling options who can all take pace off the ball should conditions dictate that. That could make them hard to beat as a result.
Los Angeles Knight Riders
The Los Angeles Knight Riders got the season off to an excellent start but things haven’t gone their way since then and having played more matches than anyone else in the competition they are the vulnerable ones at present. They have lost two of their last three and saw the other one washed out so it is imperative that they get a win here. If the Knight Riders are going to make the playoffs you would think they are going to need to win at least two of their last three matches and might need to win the lot.
If that is going to happen then they simply have to get their bowling sorted. They have gone around the park in their two defeats and that hasn’t been good. They had their match washed out here on Saturday so you would imagine the ball might struggle to come onto the bat here so that isn’t going to help the Knight Riders because the likes of Sunil Narine, Jason Roy, David Miller and Andre Russell are all better when they can trust the pace and bounce of the pitch.
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Key Players
If conditions are tough for batting here then Steve Smith becomes an important player. There aren’t many better at batting on tough tracks than the Australian and the Washington Freedom skipper will actually see it as a challenge.
Spencer Johnson has led the Los Angeles Knight Riders bowling in this tournament so far and if they are going to win this match you would imagine that they will need the Australian to come out and get stuck in with the new ball.
Betting
It is hard to go against the Washington Freedom here. When you looked at the squads for this tournament the Los Angeles Knight Riders was the one which just looked the least suited to the trickier Morrisville conditions and when you factor in the weather in this part of the world in the last few days it is hard to believe that batting is going to be particularly easy so that is only going to go further against the Knight Riders.
The other reason to like the Freedom in this match is because it is only really Spencer Johnson who is going well with the ball for the Knight Riders. You wouldn’t think that spin is going to have much impact in these conditions which negates the likes of Sunil Narine and Shakib Al Hasan so that isn’t ideal for Los Angeles either. Washington bat deep, they have sensible batters and a bowling attack which can be troublesome in any conditions and even at 4/5 they look good things here.
Tips
Back Washington Freedom to beat Los Angeles Knight Riders for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with Boylesports
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