THE EDGE: The Edge previews The Hundred clash between Southern Brave v London Spirit with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
Southern Brave v London Spirit
MATCH OVERVIEW:
The Hundred got underway on Tuesday evening, and that kick started a month of action on Betdaq Betting Exchange. We move to Southampton on Wednesday as Southern brave host London Spirit. It feels like a lifetime ago since Southern Brave won the opening season of the Hundred back in 2021, but after finished third last season it is London Spirit who need a good season this time around. The ECB plan on selling the franchises very soon – apparently they are using this season as a platform to showcase what they have – and while London Spirit have the high tag of home games at Lord’s – they have been a flop as a franchise.
They finished bottom in 2021, third in 2022 and then back to second last in 2023. I think of all the teams, their valuation and indeed the price tag they go for will be the most interesting! The Spirit batting is very poor apart from Andre Russell who will have to carry this side if they actually make the playoffs. Seeing Ravi Bopara (no offense to him) in the batting line-up probably highlights their lack of quality options. While the batting line-up doesn’t inspire confidence, I can’t see their bowlers getting them out of trouble either. They look to have the weakest squad in the tournament this season.
Southern Brave have an interesting situation with Kieron Pollard; he’s getting on in years now and doesn’t play much cricket. He still has talent of course, but you never know what to expect. If he rocks up here in good form he could be an excellent finisher for them. Vince is always reliable at the top of the order and the bowling will be led by Jofra Archer.
WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:
Last season at the Rose Bowl we saw first inning scores of 147/8 (won), 201/3 (won), 119/8 (chased) and 139/7 (won). Quite the range of scores there, but batting conditions have been reasonably good here in the T20 Blast this summer. Obviously different amount of balls here, this tournament is unique after all but 157/7 was the lowest Blast score and that was changed with two overs to spare. I would expect a reasonably high scoring game here!
RECOMMENDED BET:
You can pick holes in every squad at the Hundred if you wanted to; it’s just the way it falls in the calendar. However, the London Spirit squad is exceptionally poor in my opinion. They have been really poor overall as a franchise and I’m very happy to start the tournament against them here. I was actually surprised to see Southern Brave trading as high as 1.86 when I clicked into the market – I wouldn’t be surprised to see sides starting to trade sub 1.6 to beat this Spirit side as the tournament goes on. The 1.86 is worth a confident bet in my opinion.
The Edge Says:
Four points win Southern Brave to beat London Spirit at 1.86 on Betdaq Exchange
View the market here -> https://betdaq.biz/SouLon
IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:
With scoring conditions expected to be good here – I would focus on looking for trades on the batting side. However, I have no confidence in the London Spirit batting outside of Andre Russell – I’d be happy to support him but that’s about it from the Spirit side. You’d want to take on their bowling too, and I’d expect the Southern Brave batting to go very well here.
