Northen Superchargers vs Welsh Fire Prediction: 7/2 Malan to roll back the years

Two of the Hundred’s great strugglers take each other on at Headingley on Thursday afternoon, start time 18:30, live on Sky Sports Cricket.  

Jamie Pacheco talks us through the team news, pitch, conditions and the latest odds, picking just one bet for this match, but it could be a good one.  You can check out his Northern Superchargers vs Welsh Fire Prediction below...

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

Northern Superchargers  

A 4th place finish in the Group Stages last year wasn't enough to make the playoffs but they looked an improved side to the one who finished rock bottom the season before. But they're yet to make the Playoffs in four attempts so there's clearly something not quite right with the management, the coaching, the balance of the squad or just their performances on the day.  

Their best strategy this season may be to prepare roads at Headingley and hope the likes of Zak Crawley, Harry Brook, Dan Lawrence and David Miller can go big with spin twins Mitchell Santner and Adil Rashid given the job of using knowledge of conditions to slow the scoring down when they're in the field.  

But they may have to do without Crawley and/or Brook for this one. After an exhausting Test Series which only finished on Monday and in the most dramatic of circumstances, both the pair of them and the ECB may decide it's best they sit this one out.  

Ben Dwarshius and Santner are still on international duty so Pakistan pair Mohammad Amir and Imad Wasim have been brought in as short-term replacements.   

Rocky Flintoff, son of you-know-who may make an appearance at some stage this season. It helps when your Dad is the coach.  

Welsh Fire  

A fifth-placed finish last term meant they missed out on the Playoffs too last season and like the Northern Superchargers, they're yet to make the Playoffs in four attempts.  

Jonny Bairstow (remember him?) will open the batting and will have a curious choice of partner to do it with him: Steve Smith.  

Smith may not be a great T20 player in many people's eyes, let alone a Hundred one, but this is one of the greatest ever-batsmen who just finds new ways to get runs irrespective of venue, situation or format. He could score a bucketload against what will be mainly County-level players.  

Tom Abell is a good captain and useful all-rounder, while Chris Green has been brought in to add more balance and is a canny spinner in white ball cricket.  

They will however have to make do without Chris Woakes, presumably for the whole tournament, after he dislocated his shoulder in the Test series.  

Pitch and conditions 

167/5 (defended by Superchargers), 146/8 (chased by the Superchargers), 185/5 (defended by the Rockets), 158/7 (chased by the Fire), 182/6 (defended by the Originals), 185/5 (defended by the Invincibles), 135/8 (defended by the Superchargers) and 208/5 (defended by the Originals), were the first innings scores last year at Headingley. That's an extremely high average of 170.7, backing up the fact Headingley is easy to bat on in this format.   

6/8 were won by the side batting first so that's what the skipper winning the toss will probably do.  

Weather Forecast

No rain expected on Thursday evening up in Yorkshire and a full uninterrupted match is on the cards. Temperatures should be 19 degrees for the start of play.

TV

This one is only available on Sky Sports in the UK. Start time is 18:30 and full live-streaming will be available via the Sky Go platform.

Northern Superchargers vs Welsh Fire Odds

This is a close betting heat with the Superchargers 8/11, implied probability of 57.9% with the Welsh Fire 11/10, which is 47.6%.  

Last year's match was abandoned due to rain, with the Fire winning in 2021 and 2023 and the Superchargers in 2022, so it's the Fire who have the slight edge on the head-to-head.   

Either way, the odds look about right and the uncertainty over the participation of Brook and Crawley is a spanner in the works. If they both play that's a boost to the hosts. So we'll leave this one alone, watch it and make some notes for next time.  

Northern Superchargers Top Batsman  

But if the absence (or not) of Brook and Crawley means we don't play the match winner market, it doesn't mean we can't play this one and the man to look at is Dawid Malan.  

Both Brook (3/1) and Crawley (4/1) are listed and take up a decent chunk of the market, opening the door to Malan being a slightly-bigger price than usual at 7/2.  

His record in the competition is extremely strong, as you'd expect from a man who was once ranked the Number 1 T20 batsman in the world.  31 matches in this competition have yielded eight fifties at an average of 32 so he knows his way around this format and will either open or bat at three. 

If the two England men don't play that's even better, of course, but even if they do, that's a decent price. It's also worth remembering the two of them have been playing red ball cricket only for the last month and a half.  

Jamie Pacheco Hundred P/L 2025:

• Points Staked: 2
• Points Returned: 2.75
• Current P/L: +0.75

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...