The sixth round of league matches in The Hundred conclude on Tuesday evening when the Manchester Originals play host to the London Spirit at Old Trafford on a night which is pretty important for the home side in particular.
After a disastrous first five matches, the London Spirit already know their fate this season but the Originals will move into second place if they win this match and will be nicely played to make it through to the latter stages of the competition.
Manchester Originals
It is hard to know what to make of the Manchester Originals as they have had two of their five matches washed out this season so it might be that they are in a slightly false position. I must admit that whenever I’ve watched them they have not seemed like a top three side in the tournament. The one thing they do have at their disposal is a bowling attack which suits the ground they play at. That isn’t something that can be said for all the teams.
If there is a concern over the Originals then it comes with a fairly light looking batting line up. Admittedly the international call up of Jos Buttler hasn’t helped them in that regard but Carlos Brathwaite at six feels a spot too high to me. They have Colin Ackermann who can bat and bowl so there isn’t a reason why they can’t play six out and out batsmen and extend their batting depth. We are seeing more and more how important that is.
London Spirit
If it could go wrong for the London Spirit it has done so far this season and in their last three matches they are simply playing for pride and perhaps in some cases a contract for next season. There are positives and negatives to that. The positive is that they can play with a little bit of freedom knowing that there is nothing competitive on the match for them. The negative is that they are in this position because so many players are out of form and it doesn’t always ring true that players free up when the pressure is off.
You do have to feel an ounce of sympathy for the Spirit. When the original draft happened they looked to have a very good all-round squad but Covid and England call ups which they couldn’t possibly have foreseen have damaged their original plans and they just haven’t been able to catch up. In terms of this match though, the Spirit might have the personnel for the conditions so this could be their best chance of a maiden victory.
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Key Men
In a couple of the matches at Old Trafford recently it has been a lot easier to bat against the new ball so Phil Salt is going to be a key man for the Manchester Originals. He has the skills to replicate what Jos Buttler would have given this side and they’ll need him to fire them off to a good start.
Roelof van der Merwe has been the best player in the tournament so far for the London Spirit and if he can use conditions to his liking with the ball and bowl 20 economical balls and then finish the innings with a flourish with the bat then the Spirit have a chance.
Betting
I’ve a feeling that this is the night the London Spirit come good and pick up their first win. I don’t think this is a bad matchup for them at all but I’m a reluctant backer of bad teams because they are bad because they keep shooting themselves in the foot and I don’t really want to be on the wrong end of that. I wouldn’t put anyone off backing them but there does look like a better bet to be had over the course of the evening.
That comes in the form of under 279.5 runs. We’ve seen the Manchester wickets look a little on the sluggish side for the last few weeks and even if this is played on a fresh pitch, which actually it should be, the amount of rain that has been around means the wicket is unlikely to be ideal and there is a women’s game on it before then which isn’t likely to make it any better. Both these teams have looked a batsman light throughout the competition and they both have spin options early in the innings to keep the bigger hitters in check in the powerplay. This just feels like a high line to me so I’ll play the under.
Tips
Back Under 279.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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