Birmingham Phoenix Men face Welsh Fire Men in The Hundred on Saturday and it is a crucial fixture for the hosts at Edgbaston.
The Phoenix beat Trent Rockets in their opening game of the season, scoring a massive 214-4, but their batters disappointed in subsequent defeats to Manchester Super Giants and Southern Brave.
Birmingham Phoenix Men v Welsh Fire Men Tips Summary
Best Bet - Welsh Fire to win @ 4/5
Alternative Bet - Will Smeed to be Birmingham Phoenix top batter@ 15/4
Bet Builder - Jordan Cox to hit most sixes for Welsh Fire, Scott Currie 1+ wicket & Lockie Ferguson 1+ wicket @ 6/1
Birmingham Phoenix Men v Welsh Fire Men Prediction
Best Bet: Welsh Fire to win @ 4/5
Welsh Fire have won their last two meetings with Birmingham Phoenix at Edgbaston and they can complete the hat-trick on Saturday.
The Fire lost to Trent Rockets by nine wickets in Cardiff on Wednesday but they had won their first two matches under new captain Phil Salt.
Rachin Ravindra and Jordan Cox have shown glimpses of their devastating short-format batting and the Welsh bowling attack is packed with quality.
Marco Jansen, Lockie Ferguson and Sam Cook are formidable seamers and Warwickshire stalwart Chris Woakes knows exactly what is required for success at Edgbaston.
The Phoenix made a strong start to the campaign, winning a high-scoring contest against the Rockets.
However, their plans have been thrown into disarray by an injury to captain and star all-rounder Jacob Bethell and they have lost 19 wickets for only 216 runs in their last two outings.
Alternative Bet: Will Smeed to be Birmingham Phoenix Men top batter@ 15/4
Phoenix opener Will Smeed poses a threat to Welsh Fire and he should be backed to top-score for the home side on Saturday.
Smeed made 35, the highest score of the match, in a 12-run defeat to the Brave on Thursday, when none of his teammates passed 20.
He finished the T20 Blast campaign for Somerset with scores of 48, 89, 46, 52, 21 and 49 before cracking a speedy 51 in Birmingham's home win over the Rockets.
Birmingham Phoenix Men v Welsh Fire Men Bet Builder Tip
- Jordan Cox to hit most sixes for Welsh Fire Men
- Scott Currie 1+ wicket
- Lockie Ferguson 1+ wicket
Pays 6/1
Jordan Cox was the leading runscorer in The Hundred last season and he hit four sixes from just 16 balls in Welsh Fire's defeat to Trent Rockets on Wednesday.
Fast bowler Scott Currie has taken six wickets in his last three Edgbaston appearances for Hampshire and Birmingham Phoenix.
Fire paceman Lockie Ferguson bowled well without reward against the Rockets last time out but the New Zealand international claimed 4-27 in his previous game against MI London.
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Key Match Stats
- Birmingham Phoenix's last two totals were 100 all out and 116-9
- Phoenix all-rounder Rehan Ahmed has hit six sixes from 42 balls in The Hundred this term
- Will Smeed has reached 35 in seven of his last nine innings
- Joe Root has hit only five fours in three innings for Welsh Fire this season
- Welsh Fire have won their last two away games against the Phoenix
- Fire batter Jordan Cox has struck five sixes from 29 deliveries this summer
Tactics, Form and Team News
Birmingham Phoenix called up Joe Weatherley, the leading runscorer in this season's T20 Blast, as a replacement for injured captain Jacob Bethell.
Bangladesh fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman has also been ruled out of the tournament so Tom Helm and Chris Wood are the other specialist pacemen in the Phoenix squad.
Predicted Birmingham Phoenix lineup: 1 Joe Clarke (wk), 2 Will Smeed, 3 Rehan Ahmed, 4 Laurie Evans, 5 Donovan Ferreira (c), 6 Mitchell Owen, 7 Sean Dickson, 8 Ben Dwarshuis, 9 Scott Currie, 10 Saqib Mahmood, 11 Usman Tariq.
Welsh Fire could name the same team who lost to Trent Rockets this week although Tom Kohler-Cadmore is pushing for a recall in the middle-order.
Predicted Welsh Fire lineup: 1 Phil Salt (c & wk), 2 Matthew Short, 3 Joe Root, 4 Rachin Ravindra, 5 Jordan Cox, 6 Asa Tribe, 7 Marco Jansen, 8 Ben Kellaway, 9 Chris Woakes, 10 Lockie Ferguson, 11 Sam Cook.
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This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.
