Derby week continues in The Hundred on Thursday evening when the Northern Superchargers play host to the Manchester Originals in the latest big match in the competition up at Headingley, on a night which is effectively knockout cricket for both sides.
This match does go ahead although there were fears at one stage that it wouldn’t because a Covid-19 issue has hit the Superchargers, which is unlikely to help their progress in this one. The Originals will look to take full advantage of that.
Northern Superchargers
This has been an up and down campaign for the Northern Superchargers. Out of all the teams they were probably inconvenienced the most this season because of the ways things have gone. England would have denied them the services of Ben Stokes had his mental health not done that and the Faf du Plessis situation has been something of a mess. Now it appears they will be without two players due to Covid-19 here but the identity of the duo has been kept a secret.
After losing their opening two matches, the Superchargers have done well to revive their hopes in the competition with two wins and a washout in their next four matches but the defeat to the Southern Brave last time out has left them vulnerable and needing to win their final two group games in order to have a chance of making the latter stages. They need to make sure their batsmen deliver the goods even though they look a batsman light. In the three matches they have lost, twice they haven’t scored 135.
Manchester Originals
Things are probably a little more perilous for the Manchester Originals after they effectively lost a couple of points to the field when they were beaten by the London Spirit last time out. Their problem is a lack of batting depth and the Spirit exposed that so they need to bounce back and take one against the head so to speak. They would love it to be here against their local rivals but it isn’t going to be that easy even allowing for the issues with the Superchargers.
Headingley tends to be a quick scoring ground but the one thing the Originals do have going for them is a lot of bowling options so if they do have someone who goes around the park then they can find the extra balls from elsewhere. They have five exciting batsmen so if one of them can come off then they can post a total which will mean something and then if someone like Carlos Brathwaite or Calvin Harrison can maximise the last few balls they could get up to the sort of total they need.
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Key Men
It is hard to say a key man for the Northern Superchargers as we don’t know who is out for them with Covid but assuming Chris Lynn plays then if he can tuck into the Originals’ spinners up front and force the game open the Superchargers will be ahead of the game.
Joe Clarke is the sort of player who should go very well at Headingley. He can hit the ball powerfully all around the wicket and usually the pitch here allows for the batsmen to stand and deliver which is the style he likes to bat in. If he goes big the game could be away from the Superchargers before it has begun.
Betting
I’m not sure the Manchester Originals is a confident selection but in truth they are the only pick given the issues that the Northern Superchargers are having with Covid-19. Even if the two players that are missing this match are easily replaceable the lack of continuity and potential issues with practice and protocols and everything else that goes with it won’t have helped. If it is a batsman who has gone down there is only really Tom Kohler-Cadmore who can come in and he isn’t in the best of touch.
The one thing I do like about the Manchester Originals aside from the fact that they are more settled and their preparation has been much smoother is that they have a good spin attack and if there is a weakness of this Superchargers side it comes against spin. All their top order prefer to hit the seamers out of the park rather than the spinners and after everything else that has gone on, if the home side get behind the game they could easily crumble into a heap. I’ll go with the visitors here.
Tips
Back Manchester Originals to beat Northern Superchargers for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Sky Bet
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