The second half of the Saturday double header in The Hundred sees the last two teams to make an appearance doing so when the wonderfully named Northern Superchargers host the Welsh Fire in a potentially explosive clash at Headingley.
There have been stars on show in every match in this competition so far and they don’t stop here with Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow, Chris Lynn, Adil Rashid, Glenn Phillips, Tom Banton and Faf du Plessis among the players on show.
Northern Superchargers
They have almost gone unspoken about but the Northern Superchargers look to have a decent enough squad for this tournament. They are one of the few sides who haven’t been drastically impacted by Covid-19 issues and withdrawals so they are immediately ahead of the game in that regard. They also look to be a team who have recruited for the home ground that they serve so while that brings pressure here, they should be suited to conditions.
A lot of this Superchargers squad is the Yorkshire side who have gone so well in the Vitality Blast in recent times. When you add the likes of Ben Stokes, Chris Lynn, Callum Parkinson and Faf du Plessis to that you have a side full of experience, explosive batting power, canny and good spin options and no shortage of danger. If there is a concern it is in the seam department. There are wicket takers there but they can be expensive as well.
Welsh Fire
The Welsh Fire are at the other end of the Covid withdrawals list. They have had a couple of players who won’t make it over and in truth they didn’t look the strongest to begin with. The last thing they needed was England to call Jonny Bairstow into their Test squad so they only have two matches with him around. This is one of them so they will be eager to deliver the goods here and get off to a fast start before one of their most explosive batsmen departs the scene.
The one good thing the Fire did was to recruit Glenn Phillips before anyone else snapped him up. He has been in insane form with the bat for Gloucestershire this season so that will be important. Welsh Fire have one or two decent bowling options in David Payne and Jake Ball but injuries to Ollie Pope and potentially Liam Plunkett certainly isn’t going to be a help. When you look at the squad list of the Welsh Fire someone unheralded might have to step up to the plate if they are to reach the business end of this tournament.
Special Offer
Sign up for a Boylesports account to get up to £25 in free bets! Perfect offer for this league! Click the image below for this great offer! New accounts only. 18+ T&Cs apply. Gamble Aware.
Key Men
There aren’t many cricket grounds in the world that are big enough for Chris Lynn and Headingley certainly isn’t one of them so if he can ignite at the start of the innings he could open the game right up for the Northern Superchargers in next to no time.
He isn’t going to be around for long but while he is here Jonny Bairstow is going to be a key man for the Welsh Fire. He is playing on his home ground in this match so he’ll be looking to make his mark on a pitch he will know brilliantly well.
Betting
There is so much batting firepower on show in this match that I expect a lot of sixes to be hit. You only have to go back six days to the T20 between England and Pakistan here to show the potential for sixes on this ground. If you needed a further reminder then the Yorkshire matches in the Vitality Blast are another giveaway and we need to remember that most of the Yorkshire side are on show in this contest too which is going to help.
I wouldn’t say either bowling attack is going to strike fear into the batting departments in this match. Even if they were there is enough depth in the teams for the fearsome hitters such as Chris Lynn, Glenn Phillips, Tom Banton, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes et al to be able to play with freedom. The boundary at Headingley has shrunk since that new stand was built at the rugby ground end so the over 11.5 sixes looks the way to play this one.
Tips
Back Over 11.5 sixes for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with BetVictor
Back it here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2021
