Spencer Johnson to Rickelton, no run, short and wide of off, left alone to the keeper

Rickelton and Jayasuriya are at the crease. Rickelton is on strike. Spencer Johnson will open the attack

Right!

Teams:

Los Angeles Knight Riders (Playing XI): Sunil Narine(c), Jason Roy, Unmukt Chand(w), David Miller, Andre Russell, Saif Badar, Nitish Kumar, Corne Dry, Spencer Johnson, Ali Khan, Waqar Salamkheil

Seattle Orcas (Playing XI): Ryan Rickelton, Quinton de Kock(w), Shehan Jayasuriya, Aaron Jones, Michael Bracewell, Heinrich Klaasen(c), Keemo Paul, Harmeet Singh, Cameron Gannon, Lungi Ngidi, Ali Sheikh

Narine: We will try to restrict them to as low as possible and try to chase it down. We just have to win our next 2 games, try and focus on the game and forget about the past

Klaasen:

Seattle Orcas have won the toss and have opted to bat

14:05 local, 18:05 GMT, 23:35 IST:

Preview

It's not been the greatest season so far for both Seattle Orcas and Los Angeles Knight Riders. Both sit in the second half of the table, are coming off losses and face each other off in what's effectively a must-win game for both sides.

Orcas were once again found short with the bat in their last match against San Francisco Unicorns, when they failed to chase a target of 166, a total that could easily have been in excess of 200 if not for the incisive bowling in the latter half of the innings. Captain Heinrich Klaasen minced no words when he said that the batters are "letting the bowlers down" and it's something that Orcas can't afford anymore if they are to make the playoffs.

Knight Riders, on the other hand, are in a pretty similar situation with one win all season and are sitting two places ahead of bottom-placed Orcas courtesy a rained-out match. In their last match against Washington Freedom, the Sunil Narine-led side couldn't even bat out 20 overs and was bowled out for only 129, something which was chased down with four overs to spare. In that sense, Knight Riders have more areas to improve on despite sitting ahead of Orcas on the points table. They can start with improving their bowling in the powerplay, for the lack of wickets upfront has been a pain point for them all season.

When these two teams met earlier this season, Orcas were too good for the Knight Riders over the course of their nine-wicket victory. What will this match have in store?

When: 17 July, 2024 at 3:00 pm local / 12:30 am IST (July 18)

Where: Church Street Park, Morrisville

What to expect: This will be the last match of this season at Morrisville but the pitch is again expected to pose challengers to the batters. In the last match at this venue, the pitch got more and more difficult as the match wore on, allowing San Francisco Unicorns to comfortably defend a total of 165.

Team news:

Seattle Orcas:They might want to find a place for Lungi Ngidi in the side.

Probable XI: Ryan Rickelton, Shehan Jayasuriya, Quinton de Kock (wk), Aaron Jones, Heinrich Klaasen (c), Imad Wasim, Hammad Azam, Harmeet Singh, Cameron Gannon, Nandre Burger/Lungi Ngidi, Zaman Khan

Los Angeles Knight Riders:Alex Carey must be itching for some-time but there's perhaps very little wiggle room in the XI for that.

Probable XI: Jason Roy, Sunil Narine (c), Unmukt Chand (wk), Shakib Al Hasan, David Miller, Andre Russell, Saif Badar, Nitish Kumar, Shadley van Schalkwyk, Ali Khan, Spencer Johnson

Squads:

Los Angeles Knight Riders Squad: Sunil Narine(c), Jason Roy, Unmukt Chand(w), Shakib Al Hasan, David Miller, Andre Russell, Saif Badar, Nitish Kumar, Shadley van Schalkwyk, Ali Khan, Spencer Johnson, Derone Davis, Corne Dry, Adam Zampa, Alex Carey, Chaitanya Bishnoi, Joshua Little, Adithya Ganesh, Waqar Salamkheil, Matthew Tromp

Seattle Orcas Squad: Ryan Rickelton, Quinton de Kock(w), Shehan Jayasuriya, Aaron Jones, Heinrich Klaasen(c), Imad Wasim, Hammad Azam, Harmeet Singh, Cameron Gannon, Nandre Burger, Zaman Khan, Nauman Anwar, Shubham Ranjane, Lungi Ngidi, Michael Bracewell, Obed McCoy, Lance Morris, Ali Sheikh, Keemo Paul