We have a full round of fixtures to enjoy in the NatWest T20 Blast on Friday night with four matches in each group and one of them getting the TV treatment as we head towards the halfway mark in the group stage of the competition.
The TV match is the London derby where the coverage will hopefully have updates from the other matches although the social media accounts of the countries are doing a decent job with their updates if not.
[the_ad_group id=”3624″]
North Group
The action in the North Group gets underway with Worcestershire hosting Lancashire at New Road while Leicestershire welcome Northamptonshire in the first match at Grace Road this season. Nottinghamshire face their local rivals Derbyshire at Trent Bridge while the Birmingham Bears head to Headingley to take on Yorkshire.
South Group
The derby between Somerset and Gloucestershire get things started in the South Group before Glamorgan host Sussex down at Cardiff. We then have the TV match at The Oval between Surrey and Middlesex with the final match seeing Hampshire taking on Essex at Chelmsford.
Betting
There are a few matches I like bets in on Friday night although sadly the weather forecast is denying the chance to get involved in two of them where washouts look likely at Taunton and Cardiff. That leaves two matches to go at.
Leicestershire are the latest side to have the schedule go against them. They finished their match up at Durham just after 9pm so by the time they got showered and done media and everything they wouldn’t have been on the road much before 11pm and had a long journey back to Leicester and now play another match just over 12hrs after getting home. Not easy. Playing Northamptonshire is not easy at the best of times without that. Both these sides are in good form but with the schedule not helping out Leicestershire I’m on Northants to pick up a third win in four.
In the TV match although I’m not going to bet on the game despite Middlesex playing on Thursday night they were at home in a fairly early start with little travelling involved meaning the schedule shouldn’t play a part I am going to take a performance.
That is the one belonging to Tom Curran. It is 30.5 which looks a little low for a three dimensional cricketer. He has become one of the best bowlers in the country in this format of the game as evidenced by the nine wickets he has already picked up. He is a handy lower order batsman who could well be needed in this one and he’s a dynamic fielder. He has covered this line in four of his five matches and the chances are with just an average game with bat and ball he’ll cover it here let alone a good one. I’m on the over.
I also can’t resist a nibble at John Simpson to top score for Middlesex. Brendon McCullum stole the show on Thursday night but he might find life a little harder here and while the Saxons have a strong batting line up Simpson is very much a part of that. He has a 37 and a 28 in this tournament already which are scores that can be competitive and at 22/1 I’ll pay to see if he has another in him.
Tips
WON – Back Northamptonshire to beat Leicestershire for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Skybet
Back them here:
Back T.Curran’s Performance – Over 30.5pts for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
Back him here:
Back J.Simpson Top Middlesex Batsman for a 1/10 stake at 23.00 with Paddy Power
Back him here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2017
