The Hundred continues on Monday evening when the tournament heads back to Old Trafford for the clash between the Manchester Originals and the Birmingham Phoenix, one which promises to be an entertaining contest.
These two teams have been impacted by the weather so far this season so they will be delighted that the forecast for this match and the week ahead is good so they can get their campaign kicked into life.
Where to watch
There are three channels to watch this match on. It will be shown live and in full on the Sky Sports Main Event, Sky Cricket and Sky Mix channels with the build-up beginning at 6pm ahead of the 6.30pm start.
Manchester Originals
The Manchester Originals were the beaten finalists a year ago but they have been frustrated by the rain in their opening two matches this season. Their first game at the Welsh Fire was reduced to 40 balls per team, which they probably should have won but failed at the end, and then they were in a very good position against the London Spirit in their second match only for the heavens to open to put paid to any chance they had of winning that.
The positive in the action we have seen from the Originals this season is that Jos Buttler looks in good form. It is important for your big players to be in good form but when they are the opener at one of the disciplines it is even better. Their bowling has left a little to be desired so far in the event but we probably should cut them a little bit of slack with all the rain that has been around which has meant they have been bowling with wet balls.
Birmingham Phoenix
When you only have eight matches to make an impression on a tournament, the last thing you need is for the first two matches to be washed out, which is the case for the Birmingham Phoenix. The rain probably came at a good time for them against the Northern Superchargers and to be fair the Trent Rockets already look very strong in this event so a washout against them might have been a blessing. The other thing the weather has done is given Moeen Ali a week to rest and potentially be available after his groin issue.
When you look at this Birmingham Phoenix side they need Ali available because with Liam Livingstone coming into the event with a knock as well their batting looks lighter than the rest of the teams in the competition without them. That puts pressure on their bowling and there is a hit or miss look about that. The team is also balanced much more easily with either of their England internationals fit and available, so Phoenix will hope the week off has allowed their key men to get fit.
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Key Players
We saw the very best of Jos Buttler in the action that was able to be played on Saturday and if he can light up in this one then he will have the Manchester Originals in excellent shape to pick up their first win of the season.
Ben Duckett is one of the senior players in what might be a young and light looking Birmingham Phoenix batting unit. He top scored in the 60 or so balls that the Phoenix faced in their opener and might be called upon to score big runs here too.
Betting
Given all the rain that has been around in their matches, this is a match that neither can afford to lose so I expect both teams to come out and be very aggressive with the bat in hand. It will help that neither bowling attack looks completely watertight and there is no denying that the top orders of both teams have plenty of firepower in them. We then need to decide which is the best way to use that to our advantage.
Given that the sixes line for this match is only 10.5, which looks low when you consider that the Originals hit a better looking London Spirit attack for eight sixes in the 80 balls that they faced on a pitch which had been undercover for more than 24 hours. The weather has improved in this part of the world so the pitch should play lovely and we saw in the Test match here a couple of weeks ago that the pitches are good to bat on. Both teams bat deep and are carrying a bowler or two. I like the over on the sixes line.
Tips
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