THE EDGE: The Edge previews The Hundred game between London Spirit v Oval Invincibles with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
MATCH OVERVIEW:
The Hundred is back on Betdaq Betting Exchange! The tournament begins on Tuesday night at Lord’s, and as always we’re having a huge debate around the English season. The Hundred has been a target of a lot of hate within the English game, and the latest insult is that the England v India Test series was squeezed into too short a window which results in too many injuries – this all came to a head when Ben Stokes was ruled out of the 5th Test. However, the English summer has always had back-to-back Tests; the England v India schedule basically followed every Ashes (and other major International summer International) calendar. The fact that Hundred starts a few days after the Test series ends, it just offering a nice target to those who probably didn’t like it to begin with.
We’ve had an interesting build-up to the tournament this year too with the ECB selling off the franchises. Overall, at least from an ECB point of view, you’d have to say that the tournament has been a nice success. Oval Invincibles and Trent Rockets are still negotiating – it looks like those will get over the line with Mumbai Indians owners buying the 49% stake in Oval Invincibles. The owners behind the Trent Rockets bid also own Chelsea football club, so the ECB will be very pleased with the job they’ve done. When the cricket starts though, all those odd field matters go into the background.
We should have a cracking start too – a London Derby! However, London Spirit really need something good to happen this season. Only one win saw them finish last in 2024, in 2023 they were second last and while they managed third in 2022, they were also last in 2021! Oval Invincibles topped the table last season so there has been a gulf in class between the London sides!
WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:
While he Hundred is only 20 balls short of a T20, the game couldn’t be any more different. Everything feels in fast forward, and obviously the market moves a lot quicker too. I personally wouldn’t read too much into conditions and scores in T20 cricket here. Last season we had scores of 127/7 (chased), 94/9 (chased), 147/5 (won), 135/5 (won) and 147/9 (won) with Oval Invincibles winning the Final. I would keep an open mind on scoring over the first week of the tournament to be honest.
RECOMMENDED BET:
It was interesting to see how much London Spirit were valued at, because you’d have to say that on the field they have been quite poor. Obviously their location (Lord’s, London) has a lot to do with the value. As I said above though, there has been a massive gulf in class between the London sides and Oval Invincibles look good value here at 1.71. I actually felt we’d see them trading a little shorter, but we also have to factor in that it is the start of the tournament. I’m keen to keep stakes low at the start of the tournament too, but this 1.71 looks very nice value.
The Edge Says:
Two points win Oval Invincibles to beat London Spirit at 1.71 with Betdaq Exchange
View the market here -> https://betdaq.biz/LonOva
IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:
As I said above, I would keep an open mind on scoring conditions at the start of the tournament. Scoring was quite low in general at the Hundred last season, and you wouldn’t really expect that – unless we see otherwise of course! I’d expect to see the Oval Invincibles on top here, and given how poor the London Spirit batting has been over the years I’d be keen to take them on. That’s where I see most market movement in-play.
