After a day off on Monday the NatWest T20 Blast is back on Tuesday with a clash from the South Group which gets the televised treatment once the Women’s World Cup semi-final has taken place. Kent take on Gloucestershire with second spot in the early league table up for grabs at Canterbury.
Both sides have played three matches in this tournament. Kent have won twice with a defeat which came to Gloucestershire. That was Gloucestershire’s only win so far. They have tied one and had one washed out too.
Kent
It was a surprise when Kent went to Cheltenham and lost to Gloucestershire last week but they didn’t let that bother them as they followed that up with a trip to The Oval and took a very good looking Surrey side to the cleaners with Joe Denly making an amazing century as Kent chased well over 200.
Kent’s batting is very much their strength in this format of the game but that is to be expected on a pitch which is as good as the one in Canterbury is. That said the overseas bowlers that Kent have signed should make them more than competitive in that department so it would be a surprise if they don’t go close to qualifying.
Gloucestershire
The Gladiators have had a very up and down campaign so far. You could easily argue they tied the match they should have won and won the match against Kent which for much of Kent’s innings they should have lost. The rain might have denied them a victory against Sussex too so they need to settle down and win here.
Gloucestershire topped the table in this group last season although they did have Andrew Tye at their disposal then not to mention Hamish Marshall who always seemed to go unnoticed with all the talk about Michael Klinger. He hasn’t caught fire on his return yet and he’ll need to at some point if Gloucestershire are to qualify.
Team News
There is no Mitch Claydon in the squad for Kent in this match but they look to be at full strength with the absence of him.
Gloucestershire look close to full strength too. Thisara Perera has joined up with the squad which means that Cameron Bancroft is sitting out with Michael Klinger the other overseas player.
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Betting
If pushed I would probably side with Kent in this match but the fact that Gloucestershire have already beaten them this season and that they are a little short means I’m not getting involved in the match outcome but I do have three bets.
I expect the boundaries to flow in this one. In a match on a tricky surface at Cheltenham between these two last week there were 35 boundaries in a medium scoring match but I expect many more runs here. There is a quote on the Kent website where their coach claims ‘we try to play on the best wickets possible to suit our strokemakers and pace attack’. That means we can expect a good wicket and on a quick outfield and short boundaries in areas the ropes should get peppered enough to cover a 36.5 boundaries line.
Considering Benny Howell took 4/29 in that win over Kent last week it is a surprise that his performance line is as low as 34.5 for this match. If the 80pts he picked up with the ball wasn’t enough he added 22 more with the bat. Just an average day covers this but a good one with either bat or ball blows it out of the water.
Adam Milne has been in the wickets since arriving at Kent and I see no reason why that won’t continue here. He bowls when the cheap wickets are around at the start and end of the innings and with the spinners unlikely to get much help you would think the Kent top bowler market would be between the three seamers. Milne is easily the best of those and 7/2 on him being the top bowler looks big on the back of that.
Tips
Back Over 36.5 boundaries for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with William Hill
Back it here:
WON – Back B.Howell’s Performance – Over 34.5pts for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
Back it here:
VOID – Back A.Milne Top Kent Bowler for a 2/10 stake at 4.50 with Betfred
Back him here:
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