We will know the identity of the four sides heading to finals day in the NatWest T20 Blast on Friday night when the last of the quarter finals takes place at The Oval when Surrey entertain the Birmingham Bears.
Surrey made it into this quarter final when they finished second in the South Group while a last night win ensured third spot for the Birmingham Bears in the North. The Bears will be looking to book a place at their own party here.
Surrey
One of the most inconsistent campaigns you will ever see has been put together by Surrey this season. At no time have they really impressed which is surprising because when you look down their line up they stand up to most on paper. The one thing we do know about them is they can win knockout matches.
We saw that in the Royal London One Day Cup where they made the final and were unlucky to run into a brilliant innings from Alex Hales when they got there. My concern for Surrey is they have an inexperienced middle order with Kumar Sangakkara away and there is the potential for their attack to go around the park. They can also be brilliant too.
Birmingham Bears
The Bears are another side who have struggled for consistency but in fairness to them they came good in the second half of the season and will really fancy their chances going into this one. They haven’t been without their turmoil of late and Ian Bell has given up the captaincy in the last week or so but that didn’t stop them qualifying.
The mid-season signings of Adam Hose and Dominic Sibley look to have reinvigorated the Bears and they suddenly have a longer looking batting line up to go alongside a bowling attack which has plenty of options regardless of the conditions they will encounter. They are also experienced in knockout cricket.
Team News
Surrey go into this match without Mark Stoneman who is away on England duty but Jason Roy and Aaron Finch would have opened anyway. They had signed Kevin Pietersen for the tournament but he went lame. Kumar Sangakkara and Ravi Rampaul are away at the CPL.
Birmingham Bears have named a 17 man squad for the game which shows they are taking things seriously. It doesn’t include Chris Woakes who is away with England but Ian Bell is included despite given up the captaincy.
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Betting
I’m going to go with two bets for this match. Surrey are the favourites and with home advantage I understand that but there is a reason why Birmingham Bears are looking to reach a third Finals Day in four years – because they are a solid side in this format of the game.
With the additions of Sibley and Hose it could be argued this is the most dynamic batting line up they have had in that time and we know they have a decent enough bowling attack for the 20 over format. Surrey are a good side, there is no getting away from that, but if their openers go cheaply or Birmingham catch a flier I’m not sure there is a way back. At 5/4 the Bears are the bet.
I also think it is worth backing Birmingham to win the tournament from here. If they make it to Finals Day they are going to have every chance of going all the way. There is no weakness in their squad and they will be at home so would almost certainly be in the first semi-final. We can get them at 9/1 outright and if they win here in what would be a four runner race they would be a huge price and a worthy saver for our other outright already there in Glamorgan.
They always say beware of a footballer against his former club and the same might apply in cricket here. Rikki Clarke could be a secret weapon for Surrey and if the openers do go cheaply he could come back to haunt the Bears. We’ve seen all week how experience has come to the fore and if it does here Clarke could be a big price to top score for the home side at 15/1.
Tips
WON – Back Birmingham Bears to beat Surrey for a 4/10 stake at 2.25 with Betfred
Back them here:
Back Birmingham Bears to win NatWest T20 Blast for a 1/10 stake at 10.00 with 888sport
Back R.Clarke Top Surrey Batsman for a 1/10 stake at 16.00 with 888sport
Back them here:
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