The Major League Cricket season continues with one more match on Saturday and that sees us in Morrisville which will hopefully be much drier in time for the contest between the Los Angeles Knight Riders and the San Francisco Unicorns.
These two sides have a win under their belt but also a loss as well and in a table which can’t seem to get sorted out because of the weather, the winner here would put themselves in a strong position heading towards the halfway point of the season.
Los Angeles Knight Riders
The Los Angeles Knight Riders got their campaign off to a very good start with a win in their opening match. Buoyed by the win in the Indian Premier League the Knight Riders looked like they were going to threaten a similar demolition job on this tournament but that plan hasn’t come to fruition as they have lost their last two matches and you would have to say that they lost them pretty emphatically too. They need a real turnaround here just to get back on track.
The big problem for the Knight Riders has been their bowling has gone the distance in both matches that they have lost. They have been taken apart in the powerplay and the momentum has taken teams through the spinners too. They either need their bowlers to come to the party very quickly, to score more runs if they bat first or ultimately to try and get into a position where they can chase a score and give their own batting depth the freedom of knowing the task at hand.
San Francisco Unicorns
The San Francisco Unicorns always seem to be a match behind the rest in this competition but having won their opening match they dropped their second game so they will be looking to get back on track in this third outing of their season. The win was over the Knight Riders which will give them some confidence going into this match but the defeat was here in Morrisville which might be significant because their batters would certainly like the ball to be coming onto the bat.
The Unicorns will be boosted by the availability of Pat Cummins for the first time in the tournament here. He should ensure that their bowling delivers a stronger performance although it was really their batters which let them down in their previous game. They could only make 127 all out and even in trickier conditions that isn’t going to get the job done. San Francisco will be looking for someone in their top order not just to show their power but use some brains to manage the innings.
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Key Players
Sunil Narine is the one the Los Angeles Knight Riders will be looking at to come to the party here. He hasn’t got going with the bat in the tournament yet and his bowling hasn’t been watertight either. The Knight Riders will want an improve in both facets.
Pat Cummins was the marquee addition to the San Francisco Unicorns ahead of this tournament and the Australian star will be given the task of leading the bowling attack and setting up the match for the power batters in this side.
Betting
Given that they have already demolished the Los Angeles Knight Riders this season, I’m a little surprised that the San Francisco Unicorns are the outsiders in this match. Since that first meeting between the two sides the Unicorns have added Pat Cummins to their ranks so they are likely to be stronger with the ball and that might prove to be the difference because we have already seen that the San Francisco side can get on top of this bowling attack.
The big players for Los Angeles haven’t quite got going in the tournament yet. Sunil Narine plays a big role in this team and in three innings he has a top score of six and with the exception of Spencer Johnson one or two too many bowlers are going around the park. The top three for the Unicorns are clean hitters of the ball and if they get on top of the Knight Riders’ bowling early they might be away and gone. The addition of Cummins makes me think that San Francisco are value here.
Tips
Back San Francisco Unicorns to beat Los Angeles Knight Riders for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with Betway
