London Spirit vs Oval Invincibles Prediction: Curran and Cox to star for the defending champs

We are happy to say that here at Betfred Insights, we'll have the Men's Hundred tournament fully covered by two our of our Cricket tipsters. Tuesday sees the opening match of the 2025 Hundred season between two sides who enjoyed very different fortunes last year.  

Jamie Pacheco talks us through the team news, pitch, conditions and the latest odds, also giving us his two tips for the match as he takes us through his London Spirit vs Oval Invincibles Predictions...

*You can check out all of our Cricket Odds over at betfred.com

London Spirit  

Last season they finished rock bottom, so it's perhaps no surprise that they're the 13/1 outsiders on the outright market to go all the way.  

In a format where world-class overseas players are worth their weight in gold, it's a little odd that they've recruited 38-year-old David Warner, who can't keep going forever despite his good record in white-ball cricket and 34-year old Kane Williamson, one of Test cricket's greatest-ever batsmen but a player who has never really convinced in the T20 game, let alone in this slightly shorter format.   

Still, they have some good players elsewhere with the reliable Liam Dawson, the explosive Jamie Smith, the effective Luke Wood and the highly experienced Ashton Turner, who has a superb record in the Big Bash.  

Possible XI:  Warner, Jennings, Williamson, J Smith, Madsen, Turner, J Overton, Dawson, L Wood, Gleeson, Worrall 

Oval Invincibles 

The Invincibles justified their nickname last season to win their second Hundred tournament in a row.  

The funny thing is their squad is somewhat typical of a successful franchise team in that they've favoured specific roles over star players. The likes of Jordan Cox, the Curran brothers, Jason Behrendorff, skipper Sam Billings and Donovan Ferreira all know what they're doing at this level and will have a good idea of what they're expected to do within the team.  

This year the big bucks were spent on Rashid Khan, who left the Trent Rockets.  

Khan will be expected to contribute in all three disciplines and much will depend on how he gets on if the Invincibles are to win it again. Billings is a brilliant keeper and a fine captain so they're in good hands in that regard.  

Possible XI:  Jacks, Muyeye, Cox, S Curran, Ferreira, Billings, T Curran, Rashid Khan, Behrendorff, Sowter, Saqib 

Pitch and conditions 

This one is at Lord's. Last season the first innings totals were: 135 (defended by the Manchester Originals), 147-5 (Oval Invincibles, defended), 94-9 (Welsh Fire, chased), 127-7 (London Spirit, chased), 160-6 (London Spirit, defended), 195-4 (London Spirit, defended), 131 (London Spirit, chased), 139-6 (Spirit, chased), 122-7 (Spirit, chased) and 156/6 (Spirit, chased).  Then the final of last year's competition was played here with the Invincibles posting and defending 147-9.  

So that was an average first innings score of 141 with a nice split of six wins for the chasing side and five for the team defending a total, suggesting there isn't a big advantage to winning the toss.  

Weather Forecast

A dry evening is expected with a minimal risk of a light shower. Temperatures should be a pleasant 21 degrees at the start of the game.

TV

Both Sky Sports Cricket and BBC Two will be broadcasting this game live. Start time is scheduled for 18:30 and you can live stream the match either on Sky Go or the BBC iPlayer.

London Spirit vs Oval Invincibles Odds

The head-to-head record between these two does not make for good reading if you're a London Spirit fan. They've won just one of the seven matches between them and that was back in 2022, meaning they've lost each of the last six.  

Then again, perhaps that's not surprising. As the most successful side in the competition, it's to be expected that the Invincibles have a strong record against most teams but 6-1 is still one of the more convincing head-to-head records you'll see in domestic cricket.  

That's why the Invincibles are just 8/13, implied probability of 62% and it's hard to argue with that price. The Spirit are 5/4.  

London Spirit Top Batsman  

Jordan Cox has an excellent record in the Hundred. He's the team's second highest runscorer (573 runs) after Will Jacks (790) but his runs came from 13 fewer matches and his average of 44 is almost 20 better than Jacks, or just about anyone else in the team for that matter.  

No-one can match his four fifties within the team and he comes into the competition in fine form with a superb 139 not out in a T20 match against Hampshire and 132 in a County Championship match against Sussex just over a week ago.  

Batting at three and priced at 7/2, he looks a good wager.  

London Spirit Top Bowler  

Sam Curran may have to forget about playing for England in any format for the next year or so and may not be invited back to the IPL anytime soon, but he's still good enough at this level.  

His 33 wickets are more than anyone else at the Spirit have managed over the years and last season he took 17, allowing him to end up just two short of both team-mate Adam Zampa and Tymal Mills.  

Sure, Rashid Khan is always going to be a threat at 3/1, as is the very capable Behrendorff (7/2) while Tom Curran (11/2) is no mug in the Hundred, either.   

But Rashid doesn't take nearly as many wickets as he used to as players have got used to playing him over the years with Rashid having played in just about every T20 competition in the world at some stage.  

The 9/2 about Sam Curran looks a fair price.  

Jamie Pacheco Hundred P/L 2025:

• Points Staked: 0
• Points Returned: 0 
• Current P/L: 0 

Jamie Pacheco predominantly covers Cricket and European Football for us at Betfred Insights. You can check out his Cricket Betting Tips, along with those from the rest of the team, at our Cricket hub page...