THE EDGE: The Edge previews The Hundred clash between Oval Invincibles v Northern Superchargers with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
Oval Invincibles v Northern Superchargers
MATCH OVERVIEW:
It’s the start of a hectic weekend at the Hundred as we kick off Friday night from the Oval on Betdaq Betting Exchange. Oval Invincibles sat top of the table after all the teams had played two games, and after a very poor start Northern Superchargers bounced back to win their second game powered by Nicholas Pooran. The Superchargers new coach Freddie Flintoff got a lot of stick and questions asked after the first game, but as I said in my preview of their second game, they were going to have a lot of stars coming from the MLC and then Ben Stokes from the Test squad too. Granted, the ECB fast tracked Flintoff to the position with little to no experience, and that’s where the issue lies really.
Northern Superchargers are paying Nicholas Pooran a lot of money, so it was good he won them the game with 62 off just 34 balls. Their starting XI is only going to get stronger too – Ben Stokes scored the fastest England 50 in Test wicket in the 3rd Test! They face an excellent Oval Invincibles side here though, and we should have a cracker. The bowlers have definitely fired – they bowled Birmingham Phoenix out for 89 in their opening game and then somehow managed to defend 113/9 in Cardiff against Welsh Fire. That was an excellent bowling performance, even if the wicket was helping.
The batting could obviously improve, but given they are defending Champions it’s been hard to fault Oval Invincibles at the moment. They don’t have a standout star batter like most other sides, but they have a lot of very solid domestic players – this should be one of the more interesting markets!
WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:
This is the second game at the Oval, but we can’t read too much into the first game here with Birmingham Phoenix all out for just 89. Generally batting conditions in white ball cricket here are very good, and you wouldn’t be surprised to see a high scoring game. After the first game last season the scores were high – we had 138/6 (tied), 186/5 (won), 189/4 (won), 148/7 (chased) and 196/1 (chased). I’d bat first and make best use of conditions unless we have a lot of cloud cover but the forecast is for a lovely day in London.
RECOMMENDED BET:
With home advantage Oval Invincibles are the favourites at 1.8, but I feel that’s a little short to be honest. Northern Superchargers are going to be a much stronger side with their stars available – Ben Stokes should be available now too to make the starting XI much stronger. Harry Brook came in for the win last time out as did Mitchell Santner. There’s no doubt that the Oval Invincibles are a very strong team, but I expect a closer game than the odds suggest. Northern Superchargers having Nicholas Pooran in top form is an excellent boost too – they’ll be hoping he can keep that form right throughout the tournament! From a value point of view I’m happy with a small bet on Northern Superchargers at 2.16 or bigger.
The Edge Says:
One point win Northern Superchargers to beat Oval Invincibles at 2.16 on Betdaq Exchange
View the market here -> https://betdaq.biz/OvaNth
IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:
Although we had a very low score here in the opening game, I wouldn’t read too much into that and I wouldn’t go into this game expecting a low score. As I said above, generally batting conditions are quite good at the Oval. I do feel the market is under-estimating the Northern Superchargers after their very poor start. The changes will make a big difference, and I can see the market moving most when they bat – they should go well in these conditions.
