Northern Superchargers host Trent Rockets at Headingley on Friday – check out Richard Mann's latest preview for The Hundred.
It doesn’t get much better than cricket at Headingley on a Friday night (says the avid Yorkshireman), and Northern Superchargers and Trent Rockets take centre stage at the famous old ground in a clash scheduled to start at 6.35pm, UK time.
A fair weather forecast is good news, and as we know by now, that usually means runs at a venue that is arguably the best place for runs in England when it comes to limited-overs cricket.
This season’s T20 Blast has been a mixed bag on that score, but I’m putting that down to the awfully wet spring and early summer the whole country endured, and things have certainly picked up in that regard over the last few weeks.
In The Hundred last year, Leeds proved to be a really good place to bat, with Oval Invincibles scoring 185-5 before the Superchargers managed 176-8 in reply. Manchester Originals also amassed 182-6 on this ground, while Welsh Fire chased down 159 in only 90 balls for the loss of just two wickets.
In summary: Leeds generally ran true to form in this competition last season, favouring bat over ball, and I'm expecting more of the same in the next few weeks.
With Harry Brook and Ben Stokes on international duty this week, the Superchargers do look a touch light in the batting department, but their starting XI will still feature West Indian Nicholas Pooran – hot from a productive time of it at the IPL and T20 World Cup.
Australian Matt Short joins him, along with Jason Roy and the dangerous Adam Hose who I remain a big fan of. Colin Ingram has earned a late call-up following a fine run for Glamorgan of late, so there are plenty of runs in this side.
As for the Rockets, Alex Hales, Sam Hain and Rovman Powell lead a powerful batting unit which has been boosted by the arrival of Adam Lyth, himself is in the midst of an another excellent summer for Yorkshire. He should prove a very good signing.
The two bowling attacks in question have quality, as one would expect for this competition, but Rashid Khan for the Rockets and Adil Rashid for the Superchargers are both wrist spinners. That pair are clearly world-class performers but when conditions are good in Leeds, spinners can often find the going tough on this pitch.
When these two sides met on this ground in 2022, Adil conceded 29 from his 20 deliveries for one solitary wicket, while fellow wrist spinner Tabraiz Shamsi went wicketless.
I’m leaning heavily towards runs again, then, and BOTH TEAMS TO SCORE 160+ RUNS at 2/1 with Betway looks very fair, with Sky Bet just a touch shorter at 15/8. Sky Bet are 7/2 for both teams to score 170+ runs, but I’ll stick to the 160 line for a decent stake.
Posted at 1730 BST on 25/07/24
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