The Hundred season heads to Cardiff for the first time on Sunday when the second round of games continue with two teams who won their opening match as the Welsh Fire play their opening home game against the defending champions Oval Invincibles.
Both these teams looked pretty good in their opening wins with the Fire demolishing the Manchester Originals while the Invincibles saw off the Birmingham Phoenix, a win which looks better after the match on Saturday evening. One of these two will end the evening setting the pace in the competition.
Where to watch
The match will be shown on a trio of Sky Sports channels with it being on Main Event, Cricket and Mix with the build-up beginning on the latter at 6pm ahead of the first ball at 6.35pm.
Welsh Fire
After their best season so far last term, the Welsh Fire continued their upward curve in their opening match when they absolutely wiped out the Manchester Originals. There are questions over exactly what they beat in that match but the way they did it has no questions over it at all and they will hope to put in a similar level of performance here, although I’m sure that they will recognise that they are likely to face a much stiffer test in this match.
We are into the fourth season in this competition now which means that home teams have had enough time to get their squads sorted to peak in home conditions so there will be a little bit of pressure on the Fire to deliver in a home match, but the fact that they have won one against the head away from home eases that a little. If their bowling unit bowls like it did in Manchester then they are entitled to be very tough to beat.
Oval Invincibles
As the defending champions, Oval Invincibles were given the honour of getting the season underway, which always carries its own pressure as there are usually more eyes on the first game of a campaign than any other. You wouldn’t have thought that they were under more pressure though even with the dynamic changing from being the hunters to the hunted. They were all over the Birmingham Phoenix like a rash and at no stage did they really look like relenting.
There was a moment when the Phoenix were bowling with heat with the new ball that Oval threatened to let their opponents back in but they knew they weren’t chasing much of a score and were confident enough to ride the storm and then come out the other side. They will hope that top order starts delivering the goods soon but this tournament hasn’t been a good one for the batters against the new ball so far so they are not the only one in that position.
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Key Players
David Willey had an excellent game with the ball against the Manchester Originals, returning figures of 3-14 from the 20 balls that he bowled. He wasn’t required with the bat but there will be a time when he is so he is a key man for the home side.
Will Jacks missed out with the bat in the first game but he did pick up a couple of scalps with the ball. If his bowling remains a potent threat then he is going to be a huge player for the Invincibles because he won’t keep failing with the bat.
Betting
We finally got a high scoring game in this competition on Friday night but we have had five games now and only one of them have been high scoring and that came on the best one day batting ground in the country right now so I’m not sure we should be expecting the runs to flow here, especially with the new ball really doing more than enough to keep the top orders in check early on, if not pick up wickets which is guaranteed to keep the scoring down. The run line for this one is up at 291.5 which feels high anyway but when you factor in the class in these two bowling units and the fact that perhaps they both carry a bit of a tail I think the under has to be the play here.
I identified on Saturday that it could be worth backing players down the order to top score where there is a bit of value to be had and duly nailed a 16/1 shot in Andre Russell and I think there is mileage in doing it again here. If you bat for the Welsh Fire in this match then you have to play spin well and perhaps the man best suited to do that will be Glenn Phillips. He has shown over a period of time that he can play spin well and he is pretty established at the Welsh Fire so he’ll know what this wicket does by now. He didn’t need to bat in the previous game but he was just about the only Kiwi to have a decent T20 World Cup and he scored three 50s in succession in the Lanka Premier League earlier in the month so he’s in decent touch and feels a big price in the Fire order at 7/1.
Tips
Back Under 291.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
Back G.Phillips Top Welsh Fire Batter for a 1/10 stake at 8.00 with BetVictor
