THE EDGE: The Edge previews The Hundred clash between Southern Brave v Manchester Originals with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
Southern Brave v Manchester Originals
MATCH OVERVIEW:
The Hundred continues on Thursday with the first double header of the tournament on Betdaq Betting Exchange. London Spirit and Welsh Fire kick off the day early, but the focus here is on Southern Brave v Manchester Originals. After everyone had played two games on Tuesday night, Manchester Originals were nailed to the bottom of the table after two losses with a net run rate of -1.639. It’s still early days of course, but that is a very poor place to be and it already looks like it’s going to be a struggle for them to be competitive. They have to win this game basically, otherwise franchise cricket moves quickly and the season is as good as over!
Of course, it could have been very different for Manchester Originals as they blew a superb opportunity against Trent Rockets. They only needed two runs off three balls on Monday, even one run for a tie, and they blew it with a dot ball followed by two wickets. They can’t afford to do things like that this season with their star man Jos Buttler injured – they already had their backs against the wall with that news. That face a very solid Southern Brave side here, although they would have been disappointed with the loss to Northern Superchargers on Tuesday night. In fairness, that was all Nicholas Pooran with a superb 62 runs off just 34 balls. He was worth his high wage bill Tuesday night!
The positive of that game for Southern Brave was the runs for Kieron Pollard. He scored 37 runs off just 22 balls in a ‘finisher’ position; him being in form is going to be a great boost. His career now is basically going from franchise to franchise and you never really know what type of form he turns up in. An interesting game awaits!
WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:
This will be the second game of the season at the Rose Bowl; Southern Brave kept London Spirit down to 138/9 and chased it easily in the opening game here. I really don’t like the London Spirit batting, so I wouldn’t suggest we should expect another low score here. The first inning scores here last season were; 147/8 (won), 201/3 (won), 119/8 (chased) and 139/7 (won). The Rose Bowl has a massive outfield, we tend to see middle-type scores rather than very high scores. The 201 game was won by 60 runs. I feel perhaps 155/160 is par, but I’d keep an open mind.
RECOMMENDED BET:
It’s no surprise to see Southern Brave as favourites here, however the 1.66 is the shortest price of the Hundred so far. I know Manchester Originals have lost their opening too games, and that they do look weak on paper without Jos Buttler – however I do feel that the 1.66 is a little short here from a value point of view. I don’t have much confidence in Manchester Originals, so I’m going to recommended no bet unless Southern Brave drift a little in the pre-off market and you can get 1.72 or bigger; then I would be happy to back the home side.
The Edge Says:
Two points win Southern Brave to beat Manchester Originals IF they reach 1.72 on Betdaq Exchange
View the market here -> https://betdaq.biz/SouMan
IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:
With no Jos Buttler for the Manchester Originals, there’s more pressure than ever on their middle order to perform. I think they come up short in this department, and I’d be very keen to take on the Manchester Originals middle order when the times comes in either innings. Southern Brave have a very good bowling attack too so I can see this offering the most market movements. I don’t see any major edge batting or bowling first here for the time being.
