A spot in the top four of The Hundred table is on the line in the second part of the double header in the competition on Saturday when the Welsh Fire go up against the Birmingham Phoenix at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff.
These two sides begin the day in the bottom four of the table but a Birmingham win will see them move level with second place on points while Welsh Fire will keep their hopes alive if they can come out on top in this one.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Sky Sports Cricket channel with the build-up to this one due to begin at 5.30pm ahead of the first ball which is due down at 6pm.
Welsh Fire
This has been an up and down campaign for the Welsh Fire but all teams are looking for having a chance to make the top three when we head into the final quarter of the regular part of the campaign. Welsh Fire have that but having had a washout in their last match they are in a position where they have to win their last two matches and hope that nine points is enough to go through. You wouldn’t think it would be but there are a couple of poor run rates around which might help them.
If they are going to win their last two games then their batters have to come to the fore. They haven’t batted particularly well throughout the campaign. When they have done they have tended to win but their key players haven’t delivered as regularly as they would have wanted. That isn’t good really because this is a Fire side who don’t need massive scores with the quality that they have with the ball so there is no real excuses for the batting this term.
Birmingham Phoenix
It was a slow start for the Birmingham Phoenix as they waited for players to come back from international duty but after three wins in their last four matches they are in good shape to push for the top three. A win here will take them to the fringes of the qualifying spots if not into them and then their final two matches are home games which could be significant. They certainly look to be getting better with each match too which is never a bad thing.
The emphatic nature of their win over the Northern Superchargers last time out was impressive and moving Moeen Ali up to open the batting looks to have had the desired effect on the side. This is a Phoenix team who bat pretty deep with Sean Abbott often slated to come in at eight while their all-rounder spin options means that they have plenty of cover if a bowler happens to go the distance and also they can adjust depending on the conditions.
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Key Players
Luke Wells has 40 runs from 38 balls in this competition so far and as someone who has opened the batting at times the Welsh Fire need so much more than that from him. He has been the most expensive bowler too which has put pressure on the seamers.
Ben Duckett looks in brilliant form at the minute. He had a good Test series against West Indies and has picked up where he left off in this competition with a pair of decent scores in the last two games. Another here would be welcome.
Betting
There has been plenty of rain around Cardiff in recent times so the pitch might not play as well as maybe those involved would want it to, although to be fair you would imagine that the Welsh Fire would have left a bit of grass on the pitch anyway because their seam bowlers are very much the strength of this side. That unit have bowled as well as anyone in this competition but they have needed to because the Fire batting hasn’t got going at all really.
Birmingham are getting better with the bat but they’ll need to be at their best here. More importantly for the Phoenix, they have improved a lot with the ball in recent games and they are unlikely to give the Fire batters an easy ride. One issue for Birmingham is they were so dominant last time out that their middle order hasn’t had much of a hit out in the last 10 days so they could be a little rusty. I fancy a lower scoring game here, in keeping with the competition, where a 260.5 run line looks high. Welsh Fire are yet to score 130 in the tournament and if that doesn’t change here, given how well their bowlers are going I don’t see this run line being covered.
Tips
Back Under 260.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
