The Wednesday action in The Hundred comes from Lord’s where two sides at opposite ends of the table meet as the London Spirit play their second home match of the competition when they entertain the Welsh Fire.
London Spirit finally lost their 100% record in their last game so they will be keen to return to winning ways here. Welsh Fire are without a win in their opening five matches and whatever they do from here on in their season will end in the league phase.
London Spirit
The London Spirit have only lost to the Trent Rockets this season and that is anything but a terrible result but what will have annoyed them in that match is they were in a good position to go big with the bat on a couple of occasions but lost wickets in clusters and ended up with a total that they had no realistic chance of defending. That is the legacy of the keep on going element of the cricket teams led by Eoin Morgan and Trevor Bayliss play but it came at the wrong time for them.
The good thing is they look to have an ideal chance to get back on track here but they won’t be able to take any liberties with the bat. They do have an excellent bowling attack but they should be wary of a side who have nothing to play for and who will be able to swing from the hip on what is likely to be a good pitch. The Spirit just need someone to bat longer into the innings and steady the ship rather than compete with each other over who can hit the most sixes.
Welsh Fire
You can use any negative adjective you want to describe the season of the Welsh Fire but whichever one you use it has been absolutely terrible and they are in the position that no team wants to be in, in that they have three matches to play which as far as this season goes is of no use to them. There was a sense that they had already recognised their position in their match with the Southern Brave on Monday night when they made a number of changes to their team, to little effect.
The batting for the Welsh Fire just can’t get going. There was a positive with the innings of Leus du Plooy in the previous game but it doesn’t seem to matter who they use in their top five they just can’t put a score on the board. We probably shouldn’t judge their bowling that strongly because they have been defending nothing all season but when you look at their attack on paper it looks like it is missing some standout quality.
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Key Players
Adam Rossington has got the London Spirit off to a couple of flying starts this season and you would imagine if he can get stuck in early doors here then any enthusiasm which might remain in the Welsh Fire side will soon disappear.
The Welsh Fire used Dwaine Pretorius far too late against the Southern Brave. He is one Fire batter who does look like he is hitting the ball well and if he goes up the order he might just deliver something. His 20 balls will be important with the ball too.
Betting
I highlighted the form of Dwaine Pretorius in the previous match but if he keeps on batting at eight his potential to top score decreases so I will look to ride that form in another way and that is with his performance where he has a line of 33.5 which might well be a little on the low side. Pretorius has shown good form with the bat in the last two matches and unlike his teammates he is actually putting the ball in good areas too. We shouldn’t forget that Pretorius is highly likely to be going to the World Cup for South Africa in six weeks so why Welsh Fire use so little of him is a mystery but with three wickets in his last two matches and 44 runs despite batting so low. That form should see him even more involved here and I like him to cover this line.
I’ll also take another stab at the Welsh Fire top batter and now that they have remembered that Leus du Plooy exists I will go with the Derbyshire player who was actually their top scorer last time out. The Fire are already mixing their batting unit up and so their top four could actually be in any order in this match but whoever is picked they aren’t in great form and they are going to be up against a Spirit attack which can take early wickets. That once again leaves the top score likely to from the middle or lower order. Du Plooy is a clean hitter of the ball and should go well at Lord’s. Given the form of those above him I’m a little surprised that the Derbyshire man is 10/1 here. I’ll pay to see if he lands a second successive top score.
Tips
Back D.Pretorius’ Performance – Over 33.5 points for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
Back L.du Plooy Top Welsh Fire Batter for a 1/10 stake at 11.00 with Betway
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