SUL vs SOB Dream11 Prediction — The Hundred Men's 2026 Match 5: Best Team, Captain & Vice-Captain Picks

Sunrisers Leeds host Southern Brave at Headingley on Saturday, 25 July 2026 in Match 5 of The Hundred Men's Competition, with the first ball scheduled for 7:00 PM IST. Both clubs opened the tournament with defeats — Sunrisers Leeds went down by seven wickets to MI London, and Southern Brave lost by six wickets to Welsh Fire after being held to 135, with David Miller top-scoring on 44 off 35. With neither side on the board, the fixture doubles as a recovery round and a captaincy trial for fantasy players who have already taken a hit on Match 4 line-ups.

The Hundred format cuts each innings to 100 balls, so every fantasy selection has to be judged against a scoring curve that rewards strike rate, dot-ball pressure and wicket-taking more than attritional accumulation. Headingley adds a specific wrinkle: a Leeds surface that, in the conditions expected on Saturday — overcast skies, 15–16°C, 55% rain risk and 85% humidity — favours the side bowling first. Local records point to a 58% win rate for the team that bowls first, with average innings totals of 157 in the first innings and 146 in the chase.

Form context shapes the Dream11 build. Sunrisers Leeds' last five read L-L-W-W-L, while Southern Brave's last five read L-W-L-W-L. Across the last ten meetings between the two sides the ledger stands at SUL 4, SOB 1, with no result — a small-sample gap, but a gap that has not closed in recent seasons and that tilts ownership decisions at this venue, where Sunrisers Leeds have won 60% of their completed fixtures and Southern Brave are yet to register a win.

Probable XIs and batting order

Sunrisers Leeds are expected to retain the eleven that opened the tournament: Ryan Rickelton (wk), Mitchell Marsh, Zak Crawley (c), Harry Brook, Dan Lawrence, Tom Alsop, Benny Howell, Brydon Carse, Matthew Potts, Nathan Ellis and Abrar Ahmed. Crawley has confirmed he will bat at three, which pushes Marsh up to open with Rickelton and keeps Brook at four — the configuration fantasy players will be keying off when stacking batters in the powerplay.

Southern Brave's probable XI is Jamie Smith (wk), Ben McKinney, Thomas Rew, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Nikhil Chaudhary, Chris Jordan (c), Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Luke Wood and Daniel Worrall. Jordan's captaincy, Archer's death bowling and Rashid's middle-overs match-up against Brook and Crawley form the core tactical questions. McKinney and Rew are the order pieces fantasy users will want clarity on — neither has locked down his slot — and the toss could shuffle them up or down depending on whether Brave bowl or bat first.

Where the captaincy edge sits

Mitchell Marsh and Brydon Carse are the suggested Dream11 captain options for this fixture. Marsh gets the nod on the strength of his powerplay match-up against a Southern Brave new-ball pair that, on Friday's evidence against Welsh Fire, conceded boundaries early before tightening the middle overs. Carse offers the all-rounder profile — batting at seven or eight with the ball to take in the powerplay and at the death — that has historically returned the highest fantasy ceiling on Headingley-style surfaces. The vice-captaincy falls to Nikhil Chaudhary and David Miller, with Chaudhary a left-handed spin-hitting option against Abrar Ahmed in the middle overs and Miller the chase-anchor if Brave are asked to bat second.

Pitch, weather and toss implications

Headingley under cloud cover behaves like a different ground from Headingley under sunshine. The ball grips early, the pace bowlers extract seam movement in the first ten balls of each set, and batters who commit early to the short ball get punished. The Hundred's 100-ball structure compresses that window — six powerplay deliveries per side turn into twelve boundary-ball opportunities before the field spreads — so captain picks who bat inside the first fifteen balls carry more upside than anchors built for a 20-over chase.

The forecast, as reported on Friday afternoon, sits at 15–16°C with a 55% chance of a passing shower and 85% humidity. Rain interruptions are a real possibility; if Duckworth-Lewis-Stern adjustments kick in the projection shifts and so do the captain and vice-captain picks — a bowling all-rounder becomes more valuable than a top-order anchor once the chase is shortened. Fantasy users who build two line-ups, one for the full innings and one for a 75-ball game, will want to mirror that split with their captain and vice-captain selections.

The toss is therefore the single most important pre-match read. If Sunrisers Leeds bowl first they will look to replicate the early-seam template that dismissed MI London in Match 4; if Southern Brave bowl first they will trust Archer and Jordan to dictate the powerplay and let Rashid control the middle phase. The recommended team split is six Sunrisers Leeds and five Southern Brave players, which respects the venue record while still loading up on Archer, Rashid and Miller from the away side.

Reading the powerplay match-up

The seam-bowling pair of Brydon Carse and Matthew Potts had a quietly productive opener against MI London and are the recommended bowling slots on a Headingley surface that should offer lateral movement through the first ten balls. Pairing Carse as captain with Marsh as vice-captain gives the line-up a powerplay ceiling in both disciplines.

Suggested Dream11 team for SUL vs SOB

Wicketkeeper (2): Ryan Rickelton (SUL) and Jamie Smith (SOB). Smith offers the better batting ceiling if Brave bat second; Rickelton offers more reliable starts if Sunrisers bat first.

Batters (3): Mitchell Marsh (SUL) — captain option; Harry Brook (SUL); David Miller (SOB) — vice-captain option.

All-rounders (2): Brydon Carse (SUL) — captain option; Nikhil Chaudhary (SOB) — vice-captain option.

Bowlers (4): Matthew Potts (SUL); Nathan Ellis (SUL); Jofra Archer (SOB); Adil Rashid (SOB).

The split delivers exactly 11 selections in the recommended 2-3-2-4 configuration (WK-BAT-AR-BOWL) and a 6-SUL + 5-SOB team balance — Rickelton, Marsh, Brook, Carse, Potts and Ellis from Sunrisers Leeds, with Crawley (SUL) held back as the swap option if the surface flattens out under evening sun. Smith, Miller, Chaudhary, Archer and Rashid make up the away slots, with Jordan (SOB) the swap option if death-overs wickets swing the points. Miller is the differential upgrade if Sunrisers bat first. Users who prefer a single-captain build should make Marsh the skipper and Carse the vice-captain, with Chaudhary promoted if the toss confirms a chase and Miller promoted if Sunrisers bat first and the surface dries out.

Match prediction

The match prediction points to a Sunrisers Leeds win. The case rests on three observations that line up: a 60% win rate for Sunrisers Leeds at Headingley, a Southern Brave side yet to win at this venue, and a bowling-first win percentage of 58% in conditions where the toss is likely to favour the side that takes the new ball. Southern Brave's batting has the names — Miller, Stubbs, Smith — but the top-order has not yet converted a powerplay start into a match-defining partnership, and the absence of a settled number three continues to expose them in the middle phase.

For fantasy players the prediction is less about who wins and more about how the win is constructed. If Sunrisers Leeds bowl first and dismiss Brave inside 90 balls, the bowling points from Carse, Potts and Ellis will dominate. If Southern Brave bat first and post 155-plus, the chase ceiling for Marsh and Brook will dominate. Either way, the differential lever is the vice-captaincy slot: Chaudhary against Abrar in the middle overs is the upside pick, Miller against an ageing ball in the death overs is the floor pick.

What to watch at the toss

Field placement at the death and the order in which Crawley and Marsh take the new ball are the two tactical signals that will tell you whether the captain's pick is more valuable than the vice-captain's pick. If Sunrisers bowl first, Marsh as captain and Carse as vice-captain is the higher-upside build. If Sunrisers bat first, swap them and lead with the seam all-rounder.

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