THE EDGE: Our cricket tipster The Edge previews Wednesday’s Southern Brave v Welsh Fire (The Hundred) match with a recommended BETDAQ bet.

MATCH OVERVIEW:

The Hundred returns to our screens on Wednesday evening and we kick off the action with Southern Brave v Welsh Fire. This is the start of a very busy schedule of domestic cricket on BETDAQ Betting Exchange, with the Caribbean Premier League starting as soon as the Hundred finishes. The Hundred has received a lot of criticism, especially even before the tournament started, but you have to say it’s been a great success. It has definitely taken the premier spot in England, and the T20 Blast has suffered because of that. We’re sure to have another excellent season ahead, and who knows what kind of scores we’ll see this summer – they seem to be getting bigger every year!

The tournament got a bit of bad press a couple of weeks back when the ECB decided to rest Ben Stokes for the South Africa T20 series and the Hundred, but we have plenty of stars on show nonetheless. Pretty much every squad looks strong this season, but obviously we always have International issues. For example we have Quinton de Kock and Finn Allen in the Southern Brave side but obviously South Africa are playing Ireland in Bristol and New Zealand are playing the Netherlands in The Hague. I feel this tournament will be very much a “wait and see” with team news, and we should see some swings in the market before the off.

When you look at the Southern Brave squad, it looks like exceptionally strong – however as I said they are going to have issues. I’m not sure why they have Jofra Archer named either because he is out for the season as per the latest injury update. Welsh Fire will have issues too – they will likely lose Jonny Bairstow to England for the Tests but they do have a reasonably strong domestic team. They should end up with a settled side in that sense, and as always it doesn’t take much to go on a run in these franchise leagues. It’s going to be a very interesting few weeks of big hitting cricket, and I can’t wait.

WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:

We start the tournament at the Rose Bowl. Last season we had four fixtures here, and the chasing side won every game. The first inning scores by order of date played were: 151/3, 128/6, 144/5 and 134/7. Reasonably low scores bar the first game, but then we tend not to see very high scores at the Rose Bowl. India went very high in a T20 here recently, and South Africa got past 190 too but England lost both games by a wide margin. I wouldn’t expect an exceptionally high scoring game here; but you have to factor in that the ECB will want sixes and good scores for the TV giants so I wouldn’t be surprised to see a very flat wicket. Keep an open mind.

RECOMMENDED BET:

Southern Brave come into this game as the big favourites and you can understand why looking at their squad and how they did last season. However, I actually think this is an ideal time to get against them. Welsh Fire might not have the major stars, but they do have a solid domestic side and Southern Brave will have big expectations on their shoulders after winning last season. Welsh Fire had a number of issues last season, but they have a top class coach in Gary Kirsten. Look at the end of the day it’s the start of the tournament, you don’t want to go mad with stakes – I feel a small bet on Welsh Fire at around 2.24 is reasonable. I expect a closer game than the odds suggest. With Quinton de Kock and Finn Allen both in International squads this week, this might be the time to get against Southern Brave.

The Edge Says:
One point win Welsh Fire to beat Southern Brave at 2.24 with Betdaq Exchange.

View the market here -> https://betdaq.biz/SouWel

IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:

The first major thing to focus on in The Hundred is the team news in my opinion. What the IPL has that other domestic competition don’t is a huge International window in the calendar. This means you have all the top stars available, and that’s simply not the case here or for the CPL later too. We’ll definitely have issues with the International stars and that will move the market – it’s worth doing research on this right throughout the tournament – not just this game. I’d be keen to take on the Southern Brave batting here as they are without two big stars and then also it seems that chasing provided an edge last season. I would take that with a pitch of salt though as obviously India and South Africa have won batting first in T20’s here recently.