THE EDGE: Our cricket tipster The Edge previews Thursday’s Oval Invincibles v London Spirit (The Hundred) match with a recommended BETDAQ bet.

Oval Invincibles v London Spirit

MATCH OVERVIEW:

The Hundred continues on Thursday night and we have a London Derby to enjoy on BETDAQ Betting Exchange! Oval Invincibles take on London Spirit, with both sides hoping to improve on last season. It was a horrible season for London Spirit – they finished rock bottom of the table with just one win from their eight games. It’s fair to say that Eoin Morgan didn’t enjoy himself in this competition last season, London Spirit were pretty much relying on him and he didn’t deliver. Maybe given the fact he has retired from England now he isn’t carrying the weight of the world on this shoulders. It will be interesting to see how he starts the tournament though – you get the feeling that he needs a fast start.

The London Spirit squad looks stronger this season too. Obviously I highlighted in the opening game that we will have issues with International stars this season, but they have added Kieron Pollard and Glenn Maxwell. Pollard was the first pick in the draft this season, which London Spirit enjoyed thanks to finishing last. Oval Invincibles also signed a West Indies played in the first draft – well re-signed Sunil Narine! They were both not included in the West Indies squad that are playing India at the moment.

Although the London Spirit have improved their batting, I still feel that they have issues with the bowling. Let’s see how they perform in the early stages but on paper I’d want to be against their bowlers. The headline name in the Oval Invincibles side is Jason Roy and they actually have a lot of England stars – the Curran brothers, Reece Topley and Sam Billings are all in their squad. Rilee Rossouw has also been in superb form, but he’s in the South Africa squad at the moment.

WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:

Usually we see some very good scoring conditions at the Oval, but that wasn’t the case here in the tournament last season. We had five games here with the first inning scores coming in at; 145/8 (won), 121/7 (chased), 125/6 (won), 146/7 (chased) and 96 all out (chased). Although we did have some low scores last season, I wouldn’t go into this game expecting low scores. I would definitely lean towards good scoring conditions, but obviously that has to be confirmed in-play. In general, chasing is probably the way to go here too.

RECOMMENDED BET:

Once again we have a number of issues with players in the squad not available here. To start the tournament, I would definitely keep stakes low – let’s see how the first week plays out, and then we’ll have a better idea of who is coming into the mix from International duty too. Oval Invincibles might benefit from all the England players in their squad, especially given that a lot of them won’t be in the Test side either. I know London Spirit were so poor last season, and while I do expect them to be better this time around, I want to be against them here. Their bowling worries me, and at this ground they can easily go around the park.

The Edge Says:
One point win Oval Invincibles to beat London Spirit at 1.75 with Betdaq Exchange.

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

IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:

Looking at the scores from last season, nothing stands out as a major edge. I would lean towards bowling first however – chasing is generally a good idea here, but if batting conditions are good then you would want to focus on looking for trades on the side batting in both innings. As I said in the first game, I think the ECB will want plenty of sixes and good wickets so I would expect some flat pitches. If we get flat conditions here then we can have a very high scoring game. The biggest edge I see here is getting against the London Spirit bowling which looks quite poor on paper – they were poor last season too and that can continue.