Major League Cricket Tips Matches Eight and Nine: Texas underrated against the champs

• No evidence of price gulf

• Faf Du Plessis 13/5 for top bat

• Texas value in the chase

• New York need to sort batting selection

MI New York v Texas Super Kings
Friday 12 July, 20:00
TV: Live on Sky Sports

MI New York v Texas Super Kings team news

It's one win and one defeat so far for the holders. They bowled superbly against Seattle but then both disciplines let them down as they were outclassed by Freedom. And it has to be said that, Nic Pooran aside, this top order just doesn't look strong enough. They may need to find room for US opener Steven Taylor and Dewald Brevis (potentially replacing Tim David).

Possible XI: Taylor, Monank, Pooran, Jahangir, Brevis, Pollard, Rashid, Boult, Nortje, Kenjige, Ehsan

Faf Du Plessis put his MLC horror runs stretching all the way back to the entire last season behind him with a century against Freedom and then followed it with a rapid 34 against Unicorns as Texas secured their second win. Just as well because we're not a fan of a team that bats Mitchell Santner at No 6. We'd much prefer Marcus Stoinis to be playing.

Probable XI: Conway, Du Plessis, Hardie, Tromp, Kumar, Santner, Savage, Bravo, Mohsin, Naveen, Zia

MI New York v Texas Super Kings pitch report

Eight of the nine completed matches at Morrisville in MLC have been won by the chaser. Texas easily got after Unicorns' 127 last time. With doubts about New York's batting we could well short a high par line in the late 160s here.

MI New York v Texas Super Kings match prediction

Do we blindly bet the chaser here? No. We would much prefer it to be Texas because they have just got the job done.

New York, if they get the right team on the field, are dangerous. But we have often said that about MI franchise whatever league they are playing in. They are irritatingly flaky at times. If they line-up with something like the above they are more than competitive.

Odds are king, though, and there is no evidence Texas are as poor as odds of 2.226/5 suggest. It's a price we expect to hold post toss.

MI New York v Texas Super Kings player bets

Taylor is an opener by trade so if New York wake up and play him there, the 5/16.00 that he top scores is chunky. Monank Patel, another opener, is also 5/16.00. Pooran, last term's top tournament bat is 5/23.50. For Texas, Faf gets a quote of 13/53.60 to top for Texas.

Seattle Orcas v Washington Freedom
Friday 12 July, 01:30
TV: Live on Sky Sports

Seattle Orcas v Washington Freedom team news

Orcas smashed LA Knight Riders in their second game thanks to a Ryan Rickleton ton. Quinton de Kock moved down to No 3. Michael Bracewell lost out. Nandre Burger was expensive and could come under pressure for his place from Nathan Ellis.

Possible XI: Rickleton, Anwar, De Kock, Ranjane, Klaasen, Hammad, Imad, Harmeet, Ellis, Zaman, Gannon

Freedom should be two from two. Had they been allowed just six more balls in their chase against Texas they would have been awarded the points under D-L. We do expect the opening pair of Travis Head and Steve Smith to take Freedom deep into this tournament.

Probable XI: Smith, Head, Gous, Maxwell, Pienaar, Mukhtar, Jansen, Akeal, Ferguson, Dill, Netravalkar

Seattle Orcas v Washington Freedom pitch report

Nine out of 14 sides have won batting first at Grand Prairie. More than 170 has been busted five times. Orcas busted the toss bias against LA, which may be an indicator about the defeated team's efficiency. We do expect runs here and more than 175 looks solid on first-innings runs with both sides set up for batting well.

Seattle Orcas v Washington Freedom match prediction

There's not a huge difference between these two teams in terms of ability. Rickleton's emergence for Orcas could even make the difference. It is hard to justify Freedom being as short as 1.715/7, therefore.

That is the price of a crack T20 team and there is no evidence (yet) that they are the real deal, particularly when a toss bias is involved. The smart selection is Orcas batting first. Remember that Seattle were league ladder winners last term so they have good plans in place.

Seattle Orcas v Washington Freedom player bets

We're keeping faith with Heinrich Klaasen for runs. Klaasen is 7/24.50 for top Seattle bat. He is 5/61.84 for over 21.5 runs. Against Fegruson, Akeal and Jansen combined, Klaasen strikes at 200 on the match up in T20 and 166 in List A. It suggests he has them in his sights. Rickleton is 10/34.33 for top bat. As mentioned previously Freedom's Andries Gous may be underrated at 11/26.50 to top score. On batting order and ability he should be shorter.

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