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After a miserable inaugural Major League Cricket campaign in 2023, the Los Angeles Knight Riders now take on the team that finished as runners’ up last season in the Seattle Orcas, who could do with bouncing back quite quickly.
DATE & TIME: Tuesday 9th July, 2024 – USA ET – 8:30pm / USA PT – 5:30pm / West Indies – 7:30pm / Wednesday 10th July, 2024 – UK – 1:30am / South Africa – 2:30am / Pakistan – 5:30am / India – 6:00am / Bangladesh – 6:30am / Australia – 10:30am
VENUE: Grand Prairie Stadium, Dallas, Texas, United States
WEATHER: 31c or 87.8 F with clear skies
HOW TO WATCH ON TV: USA – Willow TV / West Indies – TBA / UK – TNT Sports / South Africa – ESPN / Pakistan – A Sports / India – TBA / Bangladesh – TBA / Australia – N/A
HOW TO WATCH ONLINE: USA – Willow TV / West Indies – TBA / UK – TNT Sports app / South Africa – ESPN+ app / Pakistan – A Sports / India – TBA / Bangladesh – TBA / Australia – Amazon Prime Video
LOS ANGELES KNIGHT RIDERS FORM: A NEW LOOK LAKR
The Los Angeles Knight Riders lost their opening four matches in 2023 before defeating the league winners Seattle Orcas in their final game. This time around, though, LAKR started with a 12-run victory over the Texas Super Kings in Dallas with an excellent performance, spearheaded by Ali Khan, limiting the hosts throughout their run chase.
LAST THREE: LWWLL
SEATTLE ORCAS FORM: POOR START FOR SEATTLE
On the other hand, the Seattle Orcas started their 2024 season by being annihilated by MI New York, who defeated them in the final last year. They were skittled for just 108 before allowing that to be comfortably chased, taking just four wickets in 14.2 overs. That leaves them bottom-of-the-table, albeit having played just one game.
LAST THREE: LLWWL
LOS ANGELES KNIGHT RIDERS BETTING ANALYSIS
LAKR’s shortcomings were, though, shown up in their second match when they suffered a six-wicket loss to the San Francisco Unicorns. There is a lack of batting depth or even just batting strength and setting a target of 166 against the Unicorns was nowhere near enough with the opposition chasing it down in just 15.2 overs. It is quite an ageing side with Jason Roy, Sunil Narine, Shakib Al Hasan and Andre Russell but the one player they should bee able to rely upon is David Miller so the South African to be their best batter in this match seems a good bet.
With the ball, after taking a four-wicket haul in their opening game, Ali Khan went wicket-less against the Unicorns and the attention turned to Aussie quick Spencer Johnson, who took 3-26. Johnson has been excellent since emerging in the last 12-18 months and the left armer to take two or more wickets once again would appear quite likely.
SEATTLE ORCAS BETTING ANALYSIS
There is no real pattern to emerge from the Seattle Orcas yet given they have played just one game but there will be fewer concerns about their batting line-up. Quinton de Kock’s form is a question but middle-order hitting from Aaron Jones, Heinrich Klaasen and Harmeet Singh should mean they stay in more matches – unlike against an impressive MI New York. Klaasen is the form player and now, as captain, will need to take some responsibility so a 30+ score from him would be worth backing.
MI New York had the luxury of going slowly in their chase of 109 but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t some good bowling from Nandre Burger and Zaman Khan. It does appear a fairly weak attack, though, and Burger will have to be at the top of his game with him being their best bowler most likely to happen more often than not.
LOS ANGELES KNIGHT RIDERS VS SEATTLE ORCAS EXPERT PREDICTION
In terms of who will come out on top, despite their very different first seasons in which LAKR finished rock-bottom and Seattle finished top, these are two very different sides. On paper, the Orcas should be set with De Kock at the top but the South African has been out of form for a while now, despite some flashes at the ICC T20 World Cup. If Johnson continues to open the bowling then backing Johnson to have a major impact on the match, up against De Kock initially, will be worth keeping an eye on.
LOS ANGELES KNIGHT RIDERS VS SEATTLE ORCAS TOP TIP: SPENCER JOHNSON TO TAKE TWO OR MORE WICKETS