THE HUNDRED 💯: Our cricket tipster The Edge previews Saturday’s new The Hundred format games between Trent Rockets v Southern Brave and Northern Superchargers v Welsh Fire with recommended BETDAQ bets.

Trent Rockets v Southern Brave

MATCH OVERVIEW:

The Hundred is well and truly under way and we have our first big double header day on Saturday in the Men’s Competition. We also have a double header in the Women’s Hundred today too, which has had record viewership on the BBC. After all the negative talk before the tournament, it seems to be a success so far – although granted it’s very early days! We have two fantastic games today, and all cricket bets are 0% Commission on BETDAQ Betting Exchange.

We start the day with Trent Rockets taking on Southern Brave at Trent Bridge. We could have a very high scoring game here as batting conditions looked excellent in the England v Pakistan series. Trent Rockets have the likes of Alex Hales, Dawid Malan, Luke Wright, D’Arcy Short and Joe Root – although will he bat too small for this format? I’m actually really looking forward to seeing how the England Test captain deals with the format, if he plays. While Southern Brave have a nice squad but it’s questionable what XI they name. Jofra Archer is only coming back from injury and Quinton de Kock is on International duty as South Africa play Ireland today in Belfast.

I have to say the Trent Rockets squad looks a lot stronger than Southern Brave, although they do have Liam Dawson, Chris Jordan and Andre Russell in the squad. James Vince is another classic batsman who might not handle the quick format. We have another fascinating game ahead.

WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:

As I said above the batting conditions at Trent Bridge for England v Pakistan looked superb, so I expect good batting conditions here. It’s so early in the tournament, it’s tricky to know what a good score is – we saw 145 successfully defended in the first game on Thursday but I assume the team batting first will need more here. Granted, although 150 isn’t a great score in T20 these days it is a strike rate of 150 off 100 balls – again just a reminder that it takes a while to change the mindset with a new format. I’m sure the chasing side though 145 would be easy enough and it wasn’t!

RECOMMENDED BET:

With this being a new format, small stakes is still the order of the day for me. We landed out first bet on Thursday because the squad looked stronger, and I believe we have a similar situation here. The Trent Rockets squad looks much stronger in my view, and Southern Brave also lose their star man Quinton de Kock for this game too. I’m actually surprised to see Trent Rockets at 2.13 – I know we can expect some very even markets at the start of the tournament, but I would have them slightly odds on and favourites.

The Edge Says:
Two points win Trent Rockets to beat Southern Brave at 2.13 with BETDAQ Betting Exchange

View the market here -> https://bit.ly/BDQTreSou

IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:

With today being the first double header, we might have a better idea for some in-running strategy going into next week. For the moment, it’s hard to have a set plan in place until we see more games – it’s definitely a case for small stakes. Once again, I would suggest fully understanding the rule changes in case we have any big in-running swings. Based on the ground conditions, I would suggest the best in-running strategy here is to look for trades on the batting side. Chasing is always good here because we tend to have a short boundary on at least one side – so we can have a big score batting first, and then get more trades on the chasing side when they are batting.

Northern Superchargers v Welsh Fire

MATCH OVERVIEW:

Next we move to Headingley at 6pm for Northern Superchargers against Welsh Fire. We only had an International T20 here last Sunday between England and Pakistan. England scored 200 batting first, so we could see another high scoring game here. It must be noted though that Pakistan could only managed 155/9 chasing, and with the hot weather we could see some spin too – so watch out for batting getting tougher as the game goes on – even though it’s only 100 balls!

Of course we’ll have some issues with Covid19 travel and International duty for this tournament, but we have some excellent players in the squads here. Northern Superchargers have some excellent players with Ben Stokes, Faf du Plessis, Chris Lynn, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Adil Rashid and David Willey in their squad. If they can get all them into the team – what a fantastic side they have! I can see Chris Lynn loving this format – he doesn’t like playing spin however, so watch out for that if we get dry wickets with this amazing weather we’re having. While Welsh Fire have Jonny Baristow, James Neesham and Kieron Pollard – Baristow and Pollard could win a game on their own in this format, but overall I much prefer the Northern Superchargers on paper. We should have another great game though!

WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:

We’re still so early in the tournament, it’s hard to know what a good score is. By the time this game starts, you will have three games to see but they would have been at different grounds too, so aren’t worth much. This can be a very high scoring ground in the T20 Blast, but the pitch looked to be slowing down in the England v Pakistan game. I would definitely bat first and take my chances – I would suggest the side batting first we have an advantage with the best batting conditions, even with just 100 balls.

RECOMMENDED BET:

We have a very open market here and that is to be expected with the format. I have to say though I like the look of the Northern Superchargers here at 1.95 or bigger. I know all their stars won’t line-up today given the situation around the world, but they have a much better squad on paper than Welsh Fire and the 1.95 looks too big. This is a game for small stakes again as I expect a pretty even game, but I would have Northern Superchargers five ticks shorter.

The Edge Says:
One point win Northern Superchargers to beat Welsh Fire at 1.95 with BETDAQ Betting Exchange

View the market here -> https://bit.ly/BDQNorWel

IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:

This is another game to wait and see how it develops – it’s too early in the tournament to have a set in-play plan in my view. I do like the team batting first though as I feel they will have the best batting conditions based on the ground conditions. However, as this is a new format it’s hard to be fully sure. Nevertheless, I would look for trades on the team batting first as I feel that might offer a slight edge – especially if that team was Northern Superchargers as they look stronger.