MI New York v Washington Freedom MLC Tips: Runs and sixes aplenty on the Prairie

• MI New York poor favourites again

• Grand Prairie surface looks flat

• Leg side boudnaries from one end too short

• Could this be Pooran's chance?

• Side batting first to be heavy fav at break

MI New York v Washington Freedom
Sunday 22 June, 01:00
TV: Live on Willow

MI New York v Washington Freedom MLC team news

MI New York got on the board with a win over Seattle Orcas last time out. They are waiting for Nic Pooran to fire after three successive failures. Like a ticking time bomb, Pooran will go off at some stage.

But he moved down to No 4 with Michael Bracewell promoted to No 3. The Kiwi smashed a fifty in a stiff chase. 

Possible MINY XI:  De Kock, Monank, Bracewell, Pooran, Pollard, Richards, Tajinder, Patel , Boult, Naveen, Adil

Freedom have not moved to replace Steve Smith after the Aussie broke a finger in the WTC final. As he was due to play only two games they may feel they are well-stocked. In the win over LAKR last time out they couldn't find room for the brilliant Glenn Phillips.

Instead they have bolstered the bowling group. Jason Behrendorff is confirmed as out of the tournament so Mark Adair comes in.  It doesn't look as though Lockie Ferguson is available. A Glenn Maxwell special (106 from 49) rescued them against LAKR when 95 for five. 

Possible Freedom XI:  Owen, Rachindra, Gous, Chapman, Edwards, Maxwell, Pienaar, Adair, Yasir, Holland, Netravalkar

MI New York v Washington Freedom MLC  pitch report

The advice before game one at Grand Prairie was a watching brief. After both teams hit 200 in Texas-San Francisco it is fair to reckon that this is a flat surface. And short boundaries too on the leg side of the wicket and straight down the ground when the bowler is from the Race Track End. The dimensions are under 60m potentially which is a mis-hit. There were 24 sixes in game one.

A 20-over par line buy at around the 197.5 mark if available will be more than solid for a Freedom bat first situation. Sportsbook offer Freedom runs for the match at over 186.5 at 5/61.84. It looks very cheap as they are purely set up for runs but the fly in the ointment is that we don't trust a poor MINY batting unit. Sixes are over 20.5 at 5/61.84.

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MI New York v Washington Freedom MLC match prediction

It will come as no surprise to readers of these pages that MINY are rated as a terrible bet at 1.794/5. These reports should come with a sticky before you read which says: there is no evidence whatsoever that MINY are good at cricket. 

So Freedom are pretty basic value call. And by Jove you have a bet on your hands if they bat first. From around the 2.1011/10 mark (we don't expect the odds to change much on the flip) they can go a long way to winning the match by the break.

Indeed, we do expect the side batting first to take a big bite out of their price. In Freedom's case they should flip these odds. Keep that tie trade in mind, too, as this is a real leveller of a surface.

MI New York v Washington Freedom player bets

We are looking to get with Pooran here for a contribution. The wicket is good, the boundaries are short and he has immense natural talent. Sure, he could have lost form but one hit could change all that. As usual there are suite of options; 11/43.75 for top MINY bat, 9/25.50 for most match runs and 17/29.50 for man of the match. The slow and steady option (keeping relative failure on side actually) is the 5/61.84 he busts 27.5 runs. 

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