Helsinki CC vs Empire CC Lions Finnish Premier League
Helsinki CC and Empire CC Lions, last year’s finalists, meet in the 2020 Finnish T20 Premier League in vastly different form. The match takes place at the Kerava National Cricket Ground on July 4 and the match is set to get underway at 09:30 local time.
Helsinki, the defending champions, have lost their last three games in a row despite having started the title defence with two wins. They missed the chance to end their losing streak last time out, when their game against struggling FPC was rained off without a ball bowled.
Empire CC Lions played the following day, and a comfortable win in a rain-reduced game against GYM Helsinki Gymkhana made it five victories in six games so far this season. They are level on points with SKK Rapids at the top of the table.
Helsinki CC vs Empire CC Lions Live streaming
Live streaming: European Cricket Network
Toss Prediction
Empire CC bowled first and won last time out and may try to repeat that winning tactic.
Weather Report
The early start time for this game gives it the best chance of being completed – there is a smaller chance of rain in the morning.
Pitch Condition
Wet days have usually meant slow pitches and heavy outfields at Kerava.
Read on for team previews, betting tips, latest odds and match prediction for Helsinki CC vs Empire CC Lions (Finnish Premier League).
Helsinki Cricket Club Team News & Playing 11
HCC Team News
After their last game was washed out, Helsinki CC continue to search for the right balance in this team. Abdul Ahad Qureshi and Abdul Wahid Qureshi have still not made a big impact since joining the team for this season.
HCC Key Players
- Khalid Rahman Mangal: Capable of some quick runs at the top of the order and with some consistency would be their key player.
- Ghulam Abbas Butt: Top-scored in last year’s final between these two teams and then picked up three wickets – all-round form he has repeated at times this season too.
- Abdul Ahad Qureshi: Starting to slowly tick, with a small platform of runs from his last two innings on which to build. He was last season’s top scorer.
HCC Team Form
Rain washed out Helsinki’s last match, against FPC, which means they have still not won since their first two matches. Three defeats in a row since then, most recently scoring 113/7 on their way to a nine-wicket defeat to SKK Rapids, have left them just outside the play-off places in the table.
Helsinki Cricket Club Predicted Playing 11
Ghulam Abbas Butt, Khalid Rahman Mangal, Zahidullah Kamal, Abdul Ahad Qureshi, Aniketh Pushthay (c, wk), Maneesh Chauhan, Zakiullah Kamal, Obaidullah Sadiqui, Abdul Wahid Qureshi, Adnan Syed
Empire Cricket Club Team News & Playing 11
ECC Team News
Empire CC Lions are unlikely to make many changes – as they did not last time out – but Zeerak Ijaz could be replaced by Yasir Ali after a first-baller in the last game.
ECC Key Players
- Vanraaj Padhaal: Top-scored in the final against Helsinki last season and he needs to start delivering more runs at the top of the order.
- Amjad Sher: After 32 and 3-15 in the previous game, he opened the batting and bowling again last time out and scored 47 and took 1-13.
- Mahesh Balasheb Tambe: Took five wickets when these sides last met and he warmed up for this meeting with 2-7 from two overs last time out.
ECC Team Form
Empire CC Lions have now won three in a row since their only defeat so far, following up a low-scoring win against SKK Rapids and a dominant bowling performance against FPC with some more good bowling in a rain-reduced defeat of GYM Helsinki Gymkhana. In a match reduced to 15 overs, Empire were set 98 to win and Amjad Sher’s 47 helped them ease to a five-wicket win.
Empire Cricket Club Predicted Playing 11
Vaanraj Padhaal, Amjad Sher (c), Jonathan Scamans (wk), Yasir Ali, Shoaib Qureshi, Mahesh Tambe, Raaz Mohammad, Kushagra Bhatnagar, Muhammad Imran, Ravi Kumar, Abdul Ghafar
Helsinki Cricket Club vs Empire Cricket Club Head to Head
This is a repeat of last season’s final, in which Helsinki Cricket Club posted 156/8 despite Mahesh Tambe’s 5-24 as Ghulam Abbas Butt top-scored with 47. In reply, Vaanraj Padhaal top-scored with 44 but Butt took 3-20 and Empire CC Lions came up short on 133/8.
🏆 Helsinki Cricket Club vs Empire Cricket Club Prediction
Empire CC Lions have been much better than Helsinki this season and, as long as they beat the weather, they can beat the defending champions too.
Leave Your Comment
We do our best to give you most accurate & useful match predictions and would love to hear from you. Let us know if we need to improve. Share your own predictions for the matches. Let's talk: