It's finals weekend in the women's Hundred and all eyes are on The Oval on Friday as SunRisers Leeds and Southern Brave clash in the Eliminator for the right to meet table-toppers Trent Rockets in Sunday's final.
The champion SunRisers head for Surrey's HQ with spirits soaring after triumphing in some style in their winner-takes-all shootout with Manchester Super Giants at Old Trafford on Tuesday.
For the Brave, on the other hand, it has been a real struggle reaching this stage of the Hundred, losing each of their last three matches to limp over the line.
SunRisers Leeds v Southern Brave Tips Summary
Best Bet - SunRisers Leeds to win @ 4/6
Alternative Bet - Under 8.5 wickets caught in match @ 8/11
Bet Builder - Tilly Corteen-Coleman 1+ wicket, Deepti Sharma 1+ wicket, Fifty in the match & Annabel Sutherland to score over 17.5 runs @ 5/1
SunRisers Leeds v Southern Brave Prediction
Best Bet: SunRisers Leeds to win @ 4/6
SunRisers have clicked with immaculate timing and are going to take all the stopping at The Oval in the Eliminator.
Dani Gibson's side showed all their mettle at Old Trafford on Tuesday by beating the Super Giants to qualify for the finals - and beating them well.
Hot on the heels of three straight successes, they piled up 166-4 off their 100 balls on the back of Annabel Sutherland's brutal 36-ball 62.
And Sutherland (2-17) then starred with the ball alongside spinners Deepti Sharma (2-21) and Jess Jonassen (3-21) as the Super Giants limped to 125-8.
That win came just 24 hours after the Brave were losing again, this time by three wickets to the Rockets, and they have definitely missed Jemimah Rodrigues, who had knocked up four scores of 25 or more in her last five innings before her hamstring injury.
The Brave won the group-stage meeting between these sides, Rodrigues starring. That all looks like a long time ago now.
Alternative Bet: Under 8.5 wickets caught in match @ 8/11
The Oval, the home of MI London, has staged four matches in The Hundred Women this summer, four matches which have seen just 34 wickets fall.
That is an average of just 8.5 wickets per game and with match catches having been set at 8.5, that looks too high.
The Oval, rightly, has a reputation as a batting paradise and some of the best batters in the women's game should ensure match catches are kept to a minimum.
SunRisers Leeds v Southern Brave Bet Builder Tip
Tilly Corteen-Coleman 1+ wicket
Deepti Sharma 1+ wicket
Fifty to be scored in the match
Annabel Sutherland over 17.5 runs
Pays 5/1
Tilly Corteen-Coleman and Deepti Sharma have been superstars with the ball this summer and can get in among the wickets in the Eliminator.
Brave spinner Corteen-Coleman has only failed to pick up a wicket in one of eight outings and is the tournament's top wicket-taker.
SunRisers all-rounder Sharma, has taken at least two wickets in each of the last four games.
Take the pair of them to snaffle at least a wicket apiece as the first two legs of your Eliminator Bet Builder.
There has been a 50 scored in each of the Sunrisers' last six games and in four of the Brave's eight matches and on a glorious Oval strip with the outfield like lightning and the ropes in, expect another half-century.
Finally, take Annabel Sutherland to score over 17.5 runs.
The Australian all-rounder has managed to do that in each of her seven visits to the middle with a lowest score of 22. She is in dazzling nick and after her high-pressure heroics at Old Trafford it is hard to see her missing out.
Learn more about how Bet Builders work in our Bet Builder guide.
Key Match Stats
- These two sides met in Match 5 on July 28th at Headingley where the Brave won by five wickets with four balls to spare
- The SunRisers come into the game on the back of four straight wins, including demolitions of Birmingham Phoenix by nine wickets and Manchester Super Giants by 41 runs
- The Brave have completely lost their way, surrendering top spot to limp home in third place by virtue of losing their final three fixtures
- SunRisers' Australian aces Phoebe Litchfield and Annabel Sutherland are the top runscorers in this season's competition, Litchfield with 289 runs in eight innings, Sutherland with 273 runs in seven innings
- The Brave and England's Tilly Corteen-Coleman is The Hundred Women's top wicket-taker with 13 wickets in eight matches; the slow left-armer has failed only in one of those eight games to take at least one wicket
- SunRisers' all-rounder Deepti Sharma has taken 10 wickets in her last four matches, claiming at least two scalps in each of them
Tactics, Form and Team News
SunRisers head to The Oval in sparkling form having stormed from the bottom half of the standings to second place courtesy of winning their final four games.
The defending champions have named the same 11 players for each of their last six matches so are unlikely to do anything different now.
Expected SunRisers Leeds XI: Smith, Litchfield, Winfield-Hill (wkt), Sutherland, Gibson (cap), Jonassen, Sharma, Carter, Cross, McCarthy, Baker.
The Brave go into the Eliminator having lost their way with three straight defeats culminating in a three-wicket loss to Trent Rockets on Monday.
The hamstring injury sustained by two-time Player-of-the-Match Rodrigues did not help with the India star missing the last two group-stage contests.
Rodrigues has flown home to be replaced by Australian all-rounder Charlie Knott.
Expected Southern Brave XI: Lee (wkt), Bouchier, Wolvaardt, Molineux (cap), Knott, Grewcock, Wong, Dattani, Glenn, Bell, Corteen-Coleman.
Read more cricket betting tips and predictions on site.
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.
