In a must-win game, London Spirit (LNS) square off against Northern Superchargers (NOS) at Lord’s. The Eoin Morgan-led franchise has picked up only one point from four matches, and a defeat would put them on the brink of elimination. Northern Superchargers, who beat Oval Invincibles in their last game, can climb as high as fourth in the points table with a win tonight.
Team News
London Spirit suffered yet another batting collapse in the tournament. The experienced batters failed to rise to the occasion in the four-run defeat against Southern Brave on Sunday. Morgan, Ravi Bopara, all-rounder Mohammad Nabi, and Joe Denly combined scored just 22 runs. The absence of Zak Crawley, who scored a half-century in London Spirit’s first match, and Dan Lawrence added to their woes.
It would be interesting to see whether the home side will make changes in their batting line-up. Luis Reece, who has hit four half-centuries in Vitality Blast 2021, and Joe Cracknell are the two batting options on the bench. Morgan, who himself has struggled for runs, is likely to stick with Bopara and Denly.
London Spirit head coach Shane Warne would be reasonably happy with the performances of his bowling unit. In the last two games, they have managed to restrict Trent Rockets and Southern Brave under 150. Also, the bowlers have been able to keep the run flow in check in the powerplay.
Seamer Blake Cullen and Chris Wood were impressive in the last game as the duo dislodged the opening pair. Nabi has been economical, while Mohammad Amir has picked up only one wicket since London Spirit’s tournament opener.
Chris Lynn’s return to form and the consistent performances from Harry Brook have been pivotal for Northern Superchargers, who are still without captain Faf du Plessis. They are very much dependent on 22-year-old Brook. Wicketkeeper-batsman John Simpson, too, is a very reliable player in the batting line-up. However, Du Plessis’ temporary replacement Dane Vilas got out for a golden duck against Oval Invincibles.
Northern Superchargers could go with three spinners as Adil Rashid, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, and Callum Parkinson have claimed 11 wickets between them in the tournament. In-form Rashid destroyed the Oval Invincibles’ middle-order with figures of 3/13.
Matty Potts has grabbed a wicket in the two games he has played and struck a valiant 20 in the franchise’s first match. Though, stand-in skipper David Willey is yet to hit the right notes in the tournament. He has been wicketless so far and conceded 91 runs from 49 balls.
Top Five Fantasy Points scorers (previous match)
LNS: J Inglis (83 pts), A Rossington (67 pts), B Cullen (55 pts), R van Merwe (45 pts), M Crane 37 pts)
NOS: A Rashid (85 pts), H Brook (66 pts), C Lynn (57 pts), M Potts (45 pts), J Simpson (34 pts)
The Hundred Stats
Most Runs: LNS – J Inglis (78 runs); NOS – H Brook (147 runs)
Most Wickets: LNS – B Cullen (4 wickets); NOS – A Rashid (6 wickets)
Most Sixes: LNS – J Denly, A Rossington, J Inglis (2 sixes); NOS – H Brook (6 sixes)
Most Fours: LNS – J Inglis (8 fours); NOS – H Brook (13 fours)
Most Catches: LNS – R Bopara (3 catches); NOS – J Simpson (4 catches)
Squads
LNS (likely): A Rossington, J Inglis, J Denly, E Morgan, R Bopara, M Nabi, R van der Merwe, B Cullen, M Amir, C Wood, M Crane
NOS (likely): A Lyth, C Lynn, H Brook, D Willey, D Vilas, J Simpson, J Thompson, B Carse/C Parkinson, M Potts, A Rashid, M Rahman
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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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