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Central Stags vs Northern Knights| Match 17 Preview, Predictions, Fantasy XI

In the 17th game of Super Smash 2021-22, Central Stags will face the Northern Knights at Pukekura Park in New Plymouth on Thursday. With 12 points from 5 games, the Stags are currently in 3rd place in the points table. With 14 points from the same number of games as the Stags, the visitors occupy the top spot. 

Stags lost a nail-biter by four wickets in their previous encounter against the Aces. It was Lockie Ferguson's penultimate ball six that denied the Stags to top the table after the match. On the other hand, the Knights won the match against the Canterbury side by just a wicket. This was also a nail-biter as Trent Boult finished Canterbury's hope by a last-ball six.

Both teams are loaded with top players, with Adam Milne returning to the Stags squad following his injury recovery. Apart from the hearty speedster, they boast the likes of Ajaz Patel, Tom Bruce, Seth Rance, and Doug Bracewell in their lineup. Colin de Grandhomme, Tim Seifert, Jeet Raval, and Scott Kuggeleijn are among the renowned names in Knights' starting lineup. Katene Clarke, who suffered an injury in his previous match, will miss this one. Boult will leave the camp to join the New Zealand squad for the upcoming test series against Bangladesh, which begins on January 1, 2022.

Match Details:

Central Stags vs Northern Knights- 17th Match

Date and Time: December 30, 2021, 7:10 AM IST

Venue: Pukekura Park, New Plymouth

Broadcast: Fan Code

Pitch Report:

The match will be played at Pukekura Park which is an absolute batting paradise. The average score batting first is in the high 180s. Pacers will get some assistance from the pitch. Toss winning captain will likely put runs on the board.

Weather Conditions:

According to the forecast, there will be no rain around and will remain clear throughout the match.

Probable Playing XI:

Central Stags

Bayley Wiggins, Greg Hay, Dane Cleaver (wk), Tom Bruce (c), Josh Clarkson, Christian Leopard, Blair Tickner, Seth Rance, Ajaz Patel, Adam Milne, Doug Bracewell.

Northern Knights

Tim Seifert (wk), Jeet Raval (c), Colin de Grandhomme, Joe Carter, Henry Cooper, Brett Hampton, Scott Kuggeleijn, Anurag Verma, Matthew Fisher, Zak Gibson, Joe Walker.

CE Fantasy XI:

Colin de Grandhomme, Anurag Verma, Scott Kuggeleijn, Seth Rance, Jeet Raval, Adam Milne, Doug Bracewell, Brett Hampton, Dane Cleaver

Captain- Tim Seifert

Vice-Captain- Tom Bruce

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