There is a big match in The Hundred on Monday evening as the competition heads to Edgbaston once again for the clash between the Birmingham Phoenix and the Welsh Fire. We are nearing the end of the league phase now so each match is gaining in importance.
Both of these sides find themselves outside of the top three going into the contest so this is a match which neither can afford to lose if they are to launch a tilt for the title. That makes this one extremely interesting and appealing.
Birmingham Phoenix
This will be the first time we have seen the Birmingham Phoenix since that quite incredible run chase against the Oval Invincibles last Wednesday. That was a flawless run chase and showed every bit of the amount of batting depth and power that they have at their disposal. It wasn’t as though the Invincibles bowled terribly but there are certain players within this Phoenix side that you can’t bowl to when they are in decent touch.
Usually you would tend to be critical about the Phoenix bowling but the pitch at Edgbaston that evening was absolutely superb so it would be pretty harsh to have a dig at the bowlers. There are one or two in the ranks who need to improve as the competition goes along but they will know that without me telling them. Birmingham will know that Liam Livingstone had a quiet game against Oval last time out so there is plenty more to come from them.
Welsh Fire
The Welsh Fire started this competition like a house on fire but after they won their opening two matches their captain Jonny Bairstow left for England duty and they have lost all three matches they have played in his absence. Interestingly all three of their defeats have been when they have batted first and attempted to defend a target. That probably isn’t a surprise because I don’t think their bowling attack is good enough anyway, but their batting hasn’t really delivered the goods either.
If the Fire are going to make the postseason they are probably going to need to win their last three matches and if that is going to happen then their bowlers are going to have to deliver the goods at some point. You sense they are going to be a better side chasing than setting even though both their wins came when they posted a total. They could do with their powerful top order to offer more too instead of leaving it all to Ben Duckett.
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Key Men
Will Smeed has launched the last two Birmingham Phoenix batting efforts into life and he is playing with the confidence which suggests he isn’t done yet. You can get after this Fire bowling early doors so expect him to deliver another good showing.
It won’t be easy to take apart the likes of Adam Milne but Tom Banton has been a little too quiet in this competition for the liking of the Welsh Fire. He has only passed 15 once in the competition and they could do with him coming good and laying a substantial platform for the rest to build on.
Betting
I think we’re on for a high scoring match here. They won’t be on the same pitch that the previous game was played on here but the pitches at Edgbaston all play great in one day cricket and I think it is fair to say these teams bat a lot better than they bowl. That is definitely the case with the Welsh Fire and I think we’ve seen enough from the Birmingham Phoenix to suggest that is the case as well given that they got carted for 170 odd last time out.
These are actually two of the higher scoring teams in the competition and now that Glenn Phillips looks to have found form again I don’t see that changing. In five of the 10 matches these two have played they have scored 150 in their innings and on two other occasions the Phoenix were in the high 140s with balls to spare when they chased their target so that highlights the potential for runs here. The run line for this one is 295.5 and I suspect that might not be high enough. I’ll play the over.
Tips
Back Over 295.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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