The final match of the second round of fixtures in The Hundred takes place on Wednesday evening and is a repeat of the inaugural final as the Birmingham Phoenix play their opening home match of the campaign against the champions Southern Brave.
The Phoenix were beaten in that final so they will certainly have reason for revenge. They might need to get it too after losing their opening game. The Brave won that final and kicked off the season with a win too so they are in a very good place heading to Edgbaston.
Birmingham Phoenix
The Birmingham Phoenix were the team of the season last term but just ran out of steam towards the end of the campaign when international call ups hit them and they had to make changes at the last minute. They had no excuse when starting their season with a defeat at the Trent Rockets on Saturday though and are under pressure to pick up a victory here, as although the Brave won the title after losing their opening two matches last term, that doesn’t sound like a regular recipe for success.
It was the batting which let the Phoenix down in that opening match. That was a surprise because when you looked at their personnel you would say that it was the bowling that looked the weaker suit. They seemed to adopt a everything must go approach with the bat, which was understandable at Trent Bridge, but there was still room to knock the ball around. You would imagine this tired square won’t be ideal for big hitting so it will be interesting to see if they can modify their game to suit it.
Southern Brave
After losing their opening two matches last season the Southern Brave knew that starting with a win wasn’t essential but they would have been delighted to have got off the mark straight away and avoided a repeat of the situation they got themselves into last term. Quite what they beat in the Welsh Fire remains to be seen because they looked an ordinary outfit in their following game too, but the ruthless nature they won the match certainly bodes well.
I always think one issue that can arise in a tournament when a team opens up with a convincing win is that if the players who got the job done for them in that match don’t perform in this one then they will need players who haven’t really tasted the action to get it done for them which doesn’t always pay dividends. The one thing you would say about the Southern Brave is they look like the best bowling side in the competition.
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Key Players
Moeen Ali is going to be a huge player for the Birmingham Phoenix here. He is the best player of spin in this team and he can bowl some useful spin too so on a potentially tired and dry pitch the Phoenix will need their captain to step up.
Quinton de Kock is available for the Southern Brave for the first time in the competition this season. You would imagine matches at Edgbaston are going to need the scores to be made in the powerplay given that the square is recovering from the Commonwealth Games and not many score quicker than the South African.
Betting
I’ll wait and see just how the Edgbaston pitches play after the Commonwealth Games before getting stuck into the Birmingham Phoenix home matches but I’ve got to think there is going to be turn on offer not just because eight days of cricket have been played there in the last 12 days but also because the country is experiencing a heatwave and apart from the odd sprinkle here and there, there hasn’t been any rain in recent times.
That makes me think Liam Livingstone is going to be a big player for the Birmingham Phoenix and it just so happens in both matches against the Southern Brave last season he was the standout player. In the league meeting between the two Livingstone smacked 68* off 44 and then in the final he hit 46 off 29 and took a wicket. Already this season he has smoked 47 and taken a wicket against the Trent Rockets so the chances of him covering a 35.5 performance line as a cricketer involved in all three facets of the game look strong to me.
Tips
Back L.Livingstone’s Performance – Over 35.5 points for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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