WF vs AA 8th Match Prediction

WF vs AA Team Previews

Wellington Firebirds

Even after losing their earlier 4-day encounter, Wellington will be all set to keep the same combination going that featured in their game against Canterbury. As far as their batting department is concerned, the team will rely on the likes of their in-form captain Tom Blundell and the batting all-rounder Rachin Ravindra to do most of the run-scoring for the side. The skipper Tom Blundell has been topping the charts for Wellington this year in the Plunkett Shield. During his 4 innings in the competition, he has managed to accumulate 196 runs at an average of 49.00. He has hit one fifty and a hundred in this journey.

Apart from Tom Blundell, the other batter that has done a good job for Wellington Firebirds is Rachin Ravindra with 185 runs from 4 innings with an average of 46.25. He has also hit a century in the competition. As far as the Wellington bowling attack is concerned the team will depend on the likes of Ben Sears, Michael Snedden, Ian McPeake, and Ollie Newton for delivering crucial breakthroughs for their teams. Ian McPeake is the top wicket-taker for Wellington in the competition with 11 wickets to his credit so far during the season.

If you take a close look at the recent performance of both the teams you will find that Wellington has lost 3 out of their last 5 encounters. They are currently positioned in the 3rd spot in the Plunket Shield points table with 24 points. They won one match and lost the other. In the last 8 games he has played for Wellington, Rachin Ravindra has scored 528 runs with an average of 40.62 and a strike rate of 43.49. Ian McPeake has picked up 23 wickets from his last 7 appearances for Wellington with a strike rate of 46.47.

Auckland Aces

The Auckland side is not doing too well in the competition at the moment. The visitors will have to make some adjustments to their side and their thinking while going into this game if they are to put up a good show during the match. Their batting department more specifically will have to do a better job. The team will rely on the likes of Robert O'Donnell, George Worker, Cole Briggs, and Sean Solia to score most of the runs for the team. In the last game, Cole Briggs was able to score a half-century while Robert O'Donnell managed to score 40 runs from 103 balls.

As far as the Auckland bowling attack is concerned, they will be dependent on the bowlers such as Simon Keene, Danru Ferns, Aditya Ashok, and William Somerville to provide the side with breakthroughs at a right time. If you take a look at the record of the Auckland team in the last 5 matches you will find that they have lost 3 matches, drawn one, and won a single game only. Auckland is currently lying at the bottom of the points table for Plunket Shield with just 8 points from a couple of games they have played. They have lost both of these matches and will be desperate to turn around their fortunes for this game.

Cole Briggs is the wicket-keeping all-rounder for the Auckland side. He will be aided by another couple of all-rounders in the team in the form of Sean Solia and George Worker who is more of a batting all-rounder. William Somerville will lead the Auckland bowling attack in the Plunket Shield for 2022-23. He has picked up 35 wickets from his last 9 games with a strike rate of 54.31. Another bowler that has done a fair job for Auckland is Simone Keene. He has taken 27 wickets from his last 7 matches with a good strike rate of 38.11.