Welsh Fire (WEF) will be keen to end their two-game winless run when they face third-placed Trent Rockets (TRT) at home in match 20 of the Hundred. Defeats against Manchester Originals and Oval Invincibles have pushed Welsh Fire to seventh spot in the points table. They have four points from as many games. Meanwhile, the Nottingham-based franchise suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Birmingham Phoenix in their last match. A win will take them to the top of the points table.
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An unsettled opening pair and Glenn Phillips’ struggle would be the key concerns in the batting department for Welsh Fire. Both the openers – Tom Banton and Josh Cobb – were dismissed in the powerplay and combined scored only 31 runs in the last two games.
Overseas batter Phillips has been unable to replicate his Vitality Blast 2021 form in the 100-ball tournament. He has managed just 46 runs from four innings. James Neesham, another overseas player, registered two first-ball ducks since scoring an unbeaten 30 in Welsh Fire’s tournament opener.
Welsh Fire suffered a fresh setback in the bowling department after Jake Ball is out of the tournament with a back injury. Liam Plunkett, too, had to withdraw from the squad due to injury. Luke Fletcher, who picked up a four-wicket haul in the Royal London One-Day Cup recently, and Matt Milnes have replaced Ball, and Plunkett respectively.
Left-arm pacer David Payne, wicketless in successive matches, will be under pressure after picking up just two wickets in the tournament so far. Front-line spinner Qais Ahmad impressed against Oval Invincibles after conceding just 12 off his 20 balls, while Neesham has picked up at least a wicket in the last three matches.
Trent Rockets added Wahab Riaz to their roster after the Pakistan pacer sorted out his visa issues. The 36-year-old, who replaced Marchant de Lange, is likely to make his Hundred debut tonight. Off-spinner Matthew Carter and all-rounder will be keen to bounce after leaking runs against Birmingham Phoenix. With two three-wicket hauls in the tournament, Rashid Khan is the player to watch out for in the Trent Rockets’ bowling unit.
The batting unit failed to spark at the death in the defeat against Birmingham Phoenix. D’Arcy Short fell for a duck, while Dawid Malan hit a half-century but couldn’t up the tempo towards the end of the innings. T20 specialist Luke Wright or wicket-keeper Ben Cox might find a place in the playing eleven against Welsh Fire.
Top Five Fantasy Points scorers (previous match)
WEF: B Duckett (94 pts), J Neesham (54 pts), Q Ahmad (35 pts), M Milnes (29 pts), J Cobb (27 pts)
TRT: R Khan (80 pts), D Malan (71 pts), S Patel (64 pts), A Hales (49 pts), T Moores (13 pts)
The Hundred Stats
Most Runs: WEF – B Duckett (191 runs); TRT – D Short (134 runs)
Most Wickets: WEF – J Neesham (6 wickets); TRT – R Khan (8 wickets)
Most Sixes: WEF – L du Plooy (4 sixes); TRT – A Hales (5 sixes)
Most Fours: WEF – B Duckett (24 fours); TRT – D Short (16 fours)
Most Catches: WEF – J Cobb (3 catches); TRT – L Wood, T Moores, A Hales (3 catches)
Squads
WEF (likely): T Banton, J Cobb, B Duckett, G Phillips, L du Plooy, J Neesham, M J Critchley, R Higgins/L Fletcher, Q Ahmad, D Payne, M Milnes
TRT (likely): D Short, A Hales, D Malan, S Patel, B Cox/L Wright, L Gregory, R Khan, T Moores, M Carter, L Wood, W Riaz
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Parameswaran Sankaranarayanan
Parameswaran Sankaranarayan is a sports enthusiast who has worked in print, website, and other digital platforms. He was part of the editorial team of first-ever Indian football-based website - IndianFootball.com (now defunct) - and passionately follows the latest happenings in world football. During his time as a journalist, he had the opportunity to interact with some of the iconic personalities in Indian sports and witness some memorable moments in Indian football.
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