THE HUNDRED 💯: Our cricket tipster The Edge previews Tuesday’s Hundred format game between Northern Superchargers v Birmingham Phoenix with a recommended BETDAQ bet.

Game 31 Northern Superchargers v Birmingham Phoenix

MATCH OVERVIEW:

It’s crunch time at The Hundred this week as we only have two games left before the Playoff stage on Friday. The last Group game takes place between Welsh Fire and London Spirit, as they are both in the bottom two places of the table – that has become a dead rubber. That leaves this match as the crunch game! A win for Birmingham Phoenix will put them into the Final as they will top the Group; while Northern Superchargers do have a good net run rate; they won’t be able to get into the top three.

The pressure is really all on Birmingham Phoenix then; however they can go into the game with the peace of mind that they will definitely be in the Playoffs, it’s just a case of are they going into the de facto Semi-Final or straight to the Final. As you can imagine given their place in the table, Birmingham have been a very impressive side in the Hundred. Northern Superchargers can keep their heads high too – they won three of their six completed games and they also lost Ben Stokes during the tournament – how can you replace a player like that?

Birmingham Phoenix don’t have a “star” batsmen in their line-up, but they do have an excellent unit when they put it all together. Liam Livingstone scored an incredible 50 off 31 balls the other day to beat Trent Rockets – the side with the same amount of points as them but just because Northern Superchargers have nothing to play for here, don’t rule them out. This should be a good game.

WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:

We have lost a few games during the competition, Northern Superchargers have suffered in that regard. However, thankfully the weather looks dry in Leeds on Tuesday. Headingley has had plenty of runs in the wicket, and it has been one of the more enjoyable grounds to watch. Northern Superchargers scored 200/5 in the last game here – that was the biggest score of the tournament – it was actually a fantastic achievement given there’s 20 less balls than T20. Prior to that the scores were 173/4 in the first game here and then 127/6 by Oval Invincibles. We should see a good score again today – if I won the toss I’d definitely bat first.

RECOMMENDED BET:

This should be a good game, and I’m expecting some very good cricket! Although I’m expecting a good game, I didn’t expect to see the teams so close together in the market. I know Northern Superchargers have been a solid side in the tournament, however Birmingham Phoenix have been top quality. As I said above too, they lack a star but they make up for it by being an excellent team. That quality does go far in franchise cricket, and I’m happy to support them again today at 1.91 on BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.

The Edge Says:
Two points win Birmingham Phoenix to beat Northern Superchargers at 1.91 with BETDAQ Betting Exchange

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

IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:

I’m keen to avoid getting against the Birmingham Phoenix batting here as they have been so solid. I would rather look for trades while their batting rather than get against them. To a lesser extent, I’m not super keen to get against the Northern Superchargers batting either. I feel the bat will dominate the ball here, so I will mainly be focusing on trades on the batting side. The biggest, and only, in-running edge I see here before the off is to support the side batting first. We’ve had two big scores here batting first and they can make best use of good batting conditions.