Two sides who have made slow starts to the Ram Slam T20 competition have the chance to kick their campaigns into life on Wednesday when the Knights host the defending champions Cape Cobras in Kimberley.
The Knights have played two and lost two so far this season. They lost a rain affected opening match to the Warriors in a super over and then ran into a Kevin Pietersen blitz against the Dolphins in their second match.
The Cobras have played an extra match to the Knights but they have only won one of the three and that was a narrow and nervy win over the Warriors on a tacky wicket in Paarl. Their other two matches have seen them soundly beaten by the Lions and the Titans.
The Knights have struggled with the ball so far in this tournament which is a bit of a surprise given that they have the likes of Dillon du Preez and Ryan McLaren in their ranks but the positive to that is that they have been fine with the bat even without the injured Rilee Rossouw so they have something to build on.
The Cobras are the reverse in many ways. They are yet to threaten 150 in the tournament but their bowlers were able to restrict the Warriors to less than that. The Titans got hold of their attack late on and the Lions were always in control so the champions need their batsmen to stand up.
They remain without Kieron Pollard who is away with the West Indies but with the likes of Richard Levi, Justin Ontong and Wayne Parnell around they have enough big game experience to be performing better than they are.
I’m not sure we should be writing the Knights off completely in this match because the Cobras aren’t going at full tilt but at the same time I did think they looked the weakest side of the lot going into the tournament and I’m not sure I’ve seen anything to change my mind just yet.
The best bet though looks to come in the sixes market where the 11.5 line looks perfectly achievable to me. Neither side have really looked their best or even good enough with the ball while both sides got big hitters in their ranks. The previous match here in Kimberley contained 16 sixes which gives us another reason to be confident so I’ll take the overs here.
Back Over 11.5 sixes for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with William Hill
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