Southern Brave v London Spirit preview and best bets for The Hundred

It’s Southern Brave up against London Spirit in Wednesday’s offering from The Hundred, with Southampton hosting a match which begins at 6.30pm, UK time.

These are two sides I was reasonably keen on in my outright tournament preview, especially the Brave who I thought stacked up particularly well.

The batting is strong, headed by James Vince and Leus Du Plooy, and the bowling promises plenty as well.

I’m not sure there is much value to be found in their side markets, however, and I’ll focus on the Spirit batsman market for a wager.

Anyone who has been following the T20 Blast this summer will confirm what an exciting talent MICHAEL PEPPER is, and 535 runs in that competition already, at an average of 44.58 and featuring two hundreds, confirms just that.

Pepper is a every inch the modern-day, short-format batsman – a hard hitter who scores lots of boundaries and has a strike-rate in the Blast this year of 193.84.

Just as he has done for Essex, I’m expecting him to bat at number three for the Spirit this season, and while his record would suggest he can be feast or famine, that doesn’t put me off when playing at 4/1.

Through the course of the competition, I’d be disappointed if playing Pepper at those odds didn’t pay in the long run, and I’ll start as I mean to go on with a decent bet.

Dan Worrall enjoyed an excellent campaign for the Spirit last season and is entitled to be give teammate Nathan Ellis plenty to think about in the top bowler market.

However, new signing Andre Russell has a terrific record at the death, especially in terms of strike-rate, so I’ll use this match as a watching brief and see how that trio are used and at what stage of the innings.

Posted at 1640 BST on 22/07/24

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