The second part of The Hundred on Saturday sees the top two teams heading into the weekend meeting in a match which could go a long way to determining who makes it straight through to the final as the Oval Invincibles take on the Southern Brave.
These two teams have plenty of pedigree and they have made their way to the top end of the table. Invincibles secure their place in the final with a victory here while the Brave will keep their hopes of reaching the trophy game alive should they win.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Sky Cricket and Sky Mix channels with the build-up to this one getting going at 5.30pm ahead of the 6pm start.
Southern Brave
This season certainly hasn’t been straightforward for the Southern Brave but to their credit they have fought through the difficult periods and will began the day second on the table and very much still in control of their own destiny. If we think back to the opening season of this competition, the Brave got off to a slow start then too but when they found their footing they powered through the remainder of the tournament and will be hoping that this campaign mirrors that one.
The big thing for the Brave is that their bowlers are beginning to come to the party. That is a huge thing because they are one of the teams who choose to go in a batter light in this competition with a couple of all-rounders sometimes moving up to attempt to fill the void. If their bowlers go well then the Brave won’t need as big a batting performance but the concern comes should those bowlers go round the park given the light batting they have.
Oval Invincibles
The Oval Invincibles probably entered this season with a little bit to prove after failing to reach the final in the first two years of this competition. They have certainly gone a long way to proving themselves with four wins and a tie from the six matches that they have played so far. The immediate thing I like about the Invincibles is that they bounced back from their only loss of the season in style with a win over the London Spirit last time out.
You would probably be stretching it a little to say they were overly convincing in that game and needed one of the best pieces of fielding you’ll ever see in the last five balls to get them over the line but they were able to win. Oval are generally very tough to beat on their own patch but it will be interesting to see if they can replicate that on their travels here. If they are in an ideal situation frame of mind they would probably want a convincing performance with the ball just for peace of mind.
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Key Players
You get the feeling that if the Southern Brave are going to win this match they need to keep the top three of the Oval Invincibles quiet so the new ball spell of Craig Overton could go a long way to deciding the outcome of this one.
Heinrich Klaasen has been in brutal form for the Oval Invincibles in this match and if he can get after a couple of these Southern Brave bowlers then he would have his side in good position to push on and pick up another win.
Betting
If this was at Oval Invincibles were at home in this match I would probably side with them but they don’t look anything like the same side on their travels and that is a concern. I’m still not quite in a position where I trust the Southern Brave while they are a batter light though so I’m pretty happy to leave the match betting well alone here. I will go with one bet though and that comes in the form of the total match runs for this one.
The line has been set at 303.5 but that feels very high on an Ageas Bowl ground which Hampshire have been using in the Metro Bank One Day Cup as well as the Southern Brave in this competition so it might well be that another used pitch gets used for this game. Even if it doesn’t, this Brave attack isn’t going to go around the park too often, especially with the women having played on this pitch immediately prior to this game. Oval aren’t as strong with the ball but they have bowlers who can contain the opposition on this big outfield. So far we’ve had totals of 292, 342 and 239. That middle match was interrupted by the rain which accounted for some of the scoring as bowlers struggled to grip the ball. That won’t be the case here so it is the under for me.
Tips
Back Under 303.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Betway
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