We have our first double header in The Hundred on Thursday and the action gets underway at Lord’s where the London Spirit will go in search of a first win when they play host to the Welsh Fire who will want to get back to winning ways.
The Spirit would have thought their first win was coming last time out but they found a way to lose and need to get off the mark here else their campaign will get away from them fast. A Fire win will have them in a nice spot.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Cricket channels with the build-up to the game beginning at 2.30pm ahead of the first ball at 3pm.
London Spirit
The London Spirit go into this match under a fair bit of pressure having lost their opening two matches. They could probably be forgiven for losing to the Southern Brave because they ran into them on a good day but their second defeat was less forgivable. The second one would have been more annoying because it looked like they had got themselves into a position to win the game but couldn’t quite see it out.
They need to bounce back from that quickly though and particularly as this is their second home match of their competition. They go into this game knowing that they really have to win this one. A defeat here would leave them needing to win their last five matches in order to have any chance of qualifying and that would feel like a big ask. The Spirit need their batters to come to the party because they didn’t bowl badly last time out.
Welsh Fire
The Welsh Fire looked like they were going to have a very good season when they absolutely demolished the Manchester Originals in their opening match and when they had restricted the Oval Invincibles to just 113 in their second match they would have been confident about going two from two for their opening matches but they soon got themselves into a bit of a hole in the run chase and were unable to get themselves out of it despite some late hitting.
They will want that batting to come to the party here. Even though they cruised through their opening match, the damage in that one was done by the bowlers and their batters just had to finish off the job so it would be good to see a proper performance from the Fire batters. They are probably going to need a decent showing because the Lord’s wicket looks to be in good order. They certainly have the firepower to offer that sort of performance.
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Key Players
Liam Dawson has been one of the best performers for the London Spirit so far and he will be important in this match. The intense heat London has seen recently could allow for a dry pitch so his spin could be key as could his lower order batting.
Mason Crane played for the London Spirit for the first three seasons of The Hundred and he might feel like he has a point to prove against his former club here. If the pitch is dry then his leg spin could be vital.
Betting
I liked the Welsh Fire going into the season but I don’t really like the way they have started this campaign, especially with the bat where too many players look a little out of touch for my liking. That wouldn’t usually bother me in a 100 ball innings because teams tend to bat with great depth but that isn’t really the case with the Fire because they have a very long tail. That might be why some of their batting is failing to perform like we know it can.
There is no doubt the Fire are on song with the ball but they’ll do well to contain this London Spirit side throughout the innings. London have firepower at the top and absolute firepower at the back of the innings and while Welsh Fire have gone well with the ball, when you look at the London Spirit attack there is no huge weakness in it. Throw in the fact that the Spirit could have Ollie Pope back in their side for this one and I think I give them enough of an edge to be taken here.
Tips
Back London Spirit to beat Welsh Fire for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Spreadex
