Birmingham Phoenix vs Oval Invincibles Prediction: Betting against Smeed & Duckett to Top Score

The Invincibles are flying while the Birmingham Phoenix are struggling, making this a particularly important match for the hosts at Edgbaston on Tuesday afternoon, start time 18:00, live on Sky Sports Cricket. 

Jamie Pacheco talks us through his analysis and top tip for the match in his Birmingham Phoenix vs Oval Invincibles Prediction...   

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

Birmingham Phoenix  

Back-to-back defeats mean the Phoenix are already under the cosh and a third straight loss would already make it hard to qualify for the Playoffs given only the Top 3 make it through and that three sides are already on two wins from two.  

Both times the Phoenix batted first and both times they made sub-par totals, easily chased by the Rockets and the Brave respectively.  

In their Kiwi pace trio, the Phoenix have a strong bowling line-up but they're going to need more runs on the board to defend if the carry on batting first.  

Part of the problem is that so much was expected of Ben Duckett, but he was out for a duck in the first match and got just 20 in the second. Duckett looks mentally jaded after playing for England in all formats over the last couple of years and that draining Series against India. Thy need him to fire.  

Oval Invincibles  

The Invincibles are invincible so far with two straight wins and could well be on course for a hat-trick of titles, which would make them the first side to do so in one of franchise cricket's major leagues.  

They look to have every base covered with plenty of bowling options for all conditions, big hitters at the top and a strong and long middle-order.  

England man Will Jacks top-scored with 61 last time but Zimbabwe-born Tawanda Muyeye pretty much matched him blow for blow with 59 off 28.  

Rashid Khan is the tournament's top wicket-taker so far with six wickets and Sam Curran is next-best with five, so taking wickets hasn't been a problem for them.  

Pitch and conditions. 

Just the one match at Edgbaston so far this season with the Phoenix managing just 122, easily chased by the Rockets as we know. Last year's average batting first from a small sample was 123 but you'd think tat's not going to cut it here, so 140 should be the target for the side batting first.  

Match Winner Odds 

There's not much wrong with going with such a well-drilled side as the Invincibles, who are 4/6, implied probability of 60; it's 6/5 (45.5%) on the Phoenix. They're a better all-round side and to that you can add, have higher levels of confidence.   

A savvy move might be to wait that the Invincibles to reach evens if the Phoenix start well but that pre-match price isn't one to be sniffed at.   

*You can check out all the latest and live Birmingham Phoenix vs Oval Invicibles Odds over on betfred.com

Birmingham Phoenix Top Batsman  

With openers Will Smeed (4/1) and Ben Duckett (10/3) yet to get going, it may pay to look elsewhere and one man who fits the bill is Joe Clarke.  

He was guilty of a painstaking innings in the first match with 29 off 34 but still almost top scored and then did top score with 36 in his second game.  

He'd probably like to open given the chance but they have other openers they prefer in that position so he's been batting at four, which should still give him plenty of time to put a score together. He may decide to play an anchor-like role and be a bit more cautious than others, which for the purposes of our bet, can only be a good thing. 

Jamie Pacheco Cricket Hundred P/L 2025: 

• Points Staked: 9
• Points Returned: 6.75 
• Current P/L: -2.25  

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...