Birmingham Phoenix vs Welsh Fire The Hundred Predictions - Fire to leave Phoenix struggling for playoff spot

Simon Lewis

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Last updated: 1 hour ago

Simon Lewis 1 hour ago

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The Phoenix have lost their last two matches after beating the Rockets in their opener.
The Fire suffered a big defeat in their last match after starting the season with back-to-back wins.
The Edgbaston pitch should serve up a good battle between the batters and bowlers.

Will Smeed has been scoring consistently at the top of the order (Getty Images).

Birmingham Phoenix vs Welsh Fire Predictions

The Welsh Fire look set to take a share of top spot, with their powerful batting line-up backed to overpower the struggling Phoenix attack.

Birmingham Phoenix vs Welsh Fire Predictions
Head-to-Head
Birmingham Phoenix Form
Welsh Fire Form
Team news

Birmingham Phoenix’s Will Smeed has scored 21, 49, 51 & 35 in his last 5 knocks.
Birmingham Phoenix’s Joe Clarke has scores of 64, 68 & 20 in his last 4 innings.
Birmingham Phoenix’s Rehan Ahmed has figures of 2/48, 2/43 & 3/25 in 4 matches.
Welsh Fire’s Rachin Ravindra has scored 28, 24 & 98 in his last 5 matches.
Welsh Fire’s Matthew Short has scores of 94*, 121*, 20 & 36 in his last 5 innings.
Welsh Fire’s Lockie Ferguson took 4/27 in the win over MI London.

Head-to-Head

Welsh Fire have won two and lost three of their last five matches against the Birmingham Phoenix in The Hundred. Those two wins came in the last three meetings between the two sides.

Birmingham Phoenix Form

Birmingham Phoenix are currently bottom of the points table, with one win and two defeats from their campaign so far.

Joe Clarke has been their leading run-scorer in The Hundred Men’s competition with 95 runs, while Rehan Ahmed has been their most successful bowler, taking five wickets.

Phoenix come into this match after a 12-run defeat to Southern Brave. Brave batted first and posted 128/8 from their 100 balls on a difficult batting surface. Jamie Smith fell cheaply for six, while Ben McKinney and Tom Abell both played some attractive strokes before getting out at important stages.

Marcus Stoinis then gave the innings a much-needed lift, striking 34 off 26 balls to help Southern Brave reach a competitive total.

Birmingham’s chase started badly with the early loss of Clarke. Will Smeed and Rehan Ahmed attempted to rebuild, but Ahmed’s 16 off 16 balls slowed the momentum. Laurie Evans, Donovan Ferreira and Mitchell Marsh were unable to make an impact, leaving Phoenix under pressure at the death.

Luke Wood proved decisive late in the innings, taking 3/24 as Birmingham Phoenix were restricted to 116/9. The result left them needing a strong response to revive their campaign.

Welsh Fire Form

Welsh Fire are fifth on the table with two wins and one defeat from their three matches.

Rachin Ravindra has been their standout batter in The Hundred Men’s competition, scoring 138 runs, while Lockie Ferguson leads their bowling charts with four wickets.

Welsh Fire suffered their first defeat of the campaign in their previous outing, going down by nine wickets against Trent Rockets. Batting first, they struggled to find rhythm and were held to 122/7 from their 100 balls.

Phil Salt and Joe Root both fell cheaply, putting the innings under early pressure. Matthew Short and Jordan Cox tried to rebuild, but neither could convert their starts when the side needed a stronger platform.

With little momentum through the innings, Welsh Fire finished with a below-par total that left their bowlers with a difficult task.

Trent Rockets made light work of the chase. Ben Duckett controlled the innings with 52, while Finn Allen added a quick 33 to put the result beyond doubt. Tom Banton then finished things off with a fluent 31 as the Rockets completed a comfortable nine-wicket win.

Welsh Fire will now be looking to bounce back quickly and regain the form that helped them start the tournament strongly.

Team news

The Phoenix batters have failed to fire in their last two matches while the Welsh Fire have also failed to live up to their potential despite pulling off two strong wins.

Birmingham Phoenix (possible XI): Joe Clarke, Will Smeed, Rehan Ahmed, Laurie Evans, Donovan Ferreira (c), Mitchell Owen, Sean Dickson, Ben Dwarshuis, Scott Currie, Saqib Mahmood, Usman Tariq.

Welsh Fire (possible XI): Philip Salt (c), Matthew Short, Joe Root, Rachin Ravindra, Jordan Cox, Marco Jansen, Asa Tribe, Ben Kellaway, Chris Woakes, Lockie Ferguson, Sam Cook.

Verdict

Birmingham Phoenix v Welsh Fire

The Welsh Fire are tipped to win what could be a tight contest. Will Smeed and Rachin Ravindra have been full of runs, while Lockie Ferguson and Rehan Ahmed have been on song with the ball.

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