Canterbury Kings vs Otago Volts, Super Smash 2018/19, Today Match Prediction 23 Dec 2018

ck vs ov Match Prediction & Analysis

Hi Everyone, Welcome to the Super smash league tournament! It is T20 fever all round everywhere with MSL ended just now in South Africa, Big bash in Australia and IPL Mini-auction and now Super smash league in New Zealand giving a build up to the tournament.

Canterbury will be keen to prove their mettle in this season after missing out last time. Canterbury are led by seasoned campaigner Andrew Ellis. They have some big names in their batting line up such as Tom Latham, Henry Nichollas, Ben Stokes and Todd Astle. Latham and Nicholas are currently in national duty in test series against Sri lanka and will join later. Now the onus is on Michael pollard, Nick Kwant, Chad Bowes and Leo Carter to guide the batting in their absence. Their pace bowling department has the likes of Skipper Ellis, Ed Nuttall, Jamieson and Matt Henry. Cole McConchie and Tim Johnston form the spin duo in the bowling and control the run flow in the middle. Canterbury will look to win this match and start their campaign with momentum. 

Otago had a forgettable last season and they ended up with wooden spoon in the league phase. Otago are led by Rob Nicol who has represented New Zealand in all forms of the game. Otago batting unit comprises of Skipper Rob Nicol, Hamish Rutherford, Shaun Hicks, Neil Broom, Josh Finnie and all-rounders Anaru kitchen and James Neesham. In the bowling department, Mathew Bacon, Shawn Hicks and James Hunter take control of pace bowling department. Michael Rippon is their lead spinner. 

TEAMS PREVIEW

Canterbury Kings Preview

Key players:

Matt Henry – Henry is a very impressive fast bowler who has talent to impress at big stage. He would like to push his name for national selection with performances in this league.

Cam Fletcher – The Keeper has been in good form and has scored two centuries and a fifty plus score in his last three outings. He would like to make a mark in this tournament with his batting and keeping skills.

Missing player: Tom Latham, Henry Nicholls 

Stats from the Previous season:

Cam Fletcher – 275 runs at strike rate 153 (HS – 74*, 50s - 1)

Andrew Ellis – 13 wickets at an economy of 8.4 RPO (BB -5/16)

Canterbury Kings Predicted Playing XI:

Andrew Ellis (c), Nick Kwant, Michael Pollard, Todd Astle, Matt Henry, Chad Bowes, Leo Carter, Cam Fletcher(Wk), Matt Henry, Cole McConchie, Ed Nuttall, Kyle Jamieson.

Matt Henry is expected to lead the pace attack with Kyle Jamieson. They will go with spin combo of McConchie and Leggie Todd Astle.

Otago Volts Preview

Key players:

Rob Nicol – Skipper Nicol would like to score runs at the top of the innings to set the tone of the match. He fell of the radar of Kiwi selectors and good show here may result in a late national call-up.

James Neesham – He provides balance to the side with his all-round skills. He can bat in the middle order and bowl effectively his full quota of 4 overs. 

Stats from the Previous season:

Rob Nicol – 231 runs at strike rate 121 (HS – 65*, 50s-1)

Matthew Bacon - 9 wickets at an economy of 7.3 RPO (BB- 4/31)

Otago Volts Predicted Playing XI:

Rob Nicol (c), Matthew Bacon, Michael Rippon, Jack Hunter, Neil Broom, Derek de Boorder(Wk), Shawn Hicks, Anaru Kitchen, James Neesham, Hamish Rutherford, Josh Finnie.

James Neesham is expected to slot in the playing XI. Otago would look to find the balanced playing XI as soon as possible.

Weather Conditions

Dunedin has been traditionally a batting friendly surface and we can hope for big scoring match. The evening stat may bring dew factor into play and it is hard to grip the ball in the second innings. The grass covering may help the pace bowlers early in the match with the new ball.

Toss: To Bowl

Dunedin has been a good chasing ground with teams batting second winning more matches. Taking dew factor and movement early in the innings both the teams will look to bowl first in this pitch. Scores more than 170 are chased consistently.