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Northern Knights vs Wellington Firebirds | Match Preview, Predictions, Fantasy XI

At the beautiful Cobham Oval in Whangarei Northern Knights will cross swords with the Wellington Firebirds on January 16, 2022. The Cobham Oval will host the Super Smash game for the first time in this season. This is the clash between the two teams which are at the top half of the table. The Knights are leading the chart with 22 points from seven matches. And the Firebirds are following on from the third position with 16 points from seven played.

Both the teams had their previous encounters against the Central Stags and have won them. Knights won it by 19 runs while the Firebirds won the close clash by two wickets as they chased a mammoth total of 228 runs. Therefore both these teams will come to this match with a high level of confidence.    

Northern Knights are enjoying their winning streak of five games unbeaten coming into this one. They will not go to tinker with their winning squad and are going with the same squad for this match as well. They have the fire powers of Colin de Grandhomme, Tim Seifert, and Jeet Raval on the batting side. While Mitchell Santner, Scott Kuggeleijn and Ish Sodhi are their bowling maestros. 

On the other hand, Wellington Firebirds are also in a nice streak of three games undefeated coming into this match. They will love the services of Rachin Ravindra who is back into the squad after finishing his international duties. Michael Bracewell is fresh from his explosive century (141)* against the Stags. Apart from him, they have the services of Finn Allen, Jimmy Neesham, and Hamish Bennett.

This should be an intriguing contest as both the teams will look to continue their winning ways going forward to the business end of the tournament.   


Match Details

Northern Knights vs Wellington Firebirds- 24th Match

Date and Time: January 16, 2022, 6:10 AM IST

Venue: Cobham Oval (New), Whangarei

Broadcast: Fan Code


Pitch Report

The Cobham Oval is hosting its first game in this year’s Super Smash season. The pitch will slow down as the match progresses. This will be a mediocre scoring contest. The average score batting first is hovering around 145. The captains will be unsure about their decisions if they win the toss. Since it is a new track, bowling first might be a fair idea.  

Weather Conditions

According to forecasts, there will be a decent amount of rain interruptions during the match time.


Probable Playing XI

Northern Knights

Jeet Raval (c), Tim seifert (wk), Joe Carter, Colin de Grandhomme, Henry Cooper, Brett Hampton, Mitchell Santner, Anurag Verma, Scott Kuggeleijn, Matthew Fisher, Ish Sodhi.


Wellington Firebirds

Finn Allen (wk), Tim Robinson, Michael Bracewell (c), Troy Johnson, Nathan Smith, Jimmy Neesham, Rachin Ravindra, Logan van Beek, Ben Sears, Ollie Newton, Hamish Bennett.


CE Fantasy XI

Jimmy Neesham, Rachin Ravindra, Michael Bracewell, Nathan Smith, Jeet Raval, Tim Seifert, Scott Kuggeleijn, Ish Sodhi, Mitchell Santner

Captain- Finn Allen

 Vice-Captain- Colin de Grandhomme              

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