The NatWest T20 Blast continues again on Thursday evening and while the forecast is a changeable one hopefully the five matches on the card all dodge any rain and get completed as the tournament continues to move towards the knockout stage.
We have three matches in the South Group which is where the TV game comes from and there are two more in the North Group on what looks like a big night of T20 action.
North Group
Just the two matches take place here but they will have implications on the top of the table as Yorkshire have the chance to return to the summit when they host Derbyshire at Headingley. The other match sees Northamptonshire, looking to stay in the pack, hosting a Lancashire side fighting hard for a top four spot.
South Group
The TV game comes from Lord’s as Middlesex host a stuttering Hampshire side while lowly Sussex take on Surrey down at Hove. The other match sees Gloucestershire heading across the Severn Bridge to take on a Glamorgan side who currently lead the way in the table.
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Betting
I’m going with three main bets on this card. The first is a double on a pair of away sides as I like Hampshire and Surrey combined. Middlesex are without Brendon McCullum from now on and they are also missing Dawid Malan and Steven Finn to England while Tim Southee has gone back to New Zealand for a short period. Hampshire are missing Michael Carberry but they look strong aside from that and they will be eager to make up for slipping up on Tuesday night. They look far stronger than Middlesex here.
Surrey also look strong and while losing Kumar Sangakkara is a blow they do have Moises Henriques in situ and he along with Aaron Finch and Jason Roy make up the bulk of a powerful top order for Surrey. Sussex have Tymal Mills back for this one but Luke Wright is missing which will put a strain on the home batting against a very good Surrey attack. Hampshire and Surrey combined pays a shade under 7/4 which is good to me.
Down at Cardiff it is hard to ignore the form of Colin Ingram and I expect him to get back to scoring well having had four days since his last match to take stock and assess his form. He has a performance line of 37.5 in this match which doesn’t look high enough to me. He could easily clobber that with the bat but if he doesn’t we saw in the reverse fixture that Gloucestershire struggled to get his leg spin away. With a combination or bat and ball I expect Ingram to total more than 37.5pts.
Those who have watched every match at Headingley this season will have seen plenty of runs in the main and I expect them to see plenty more this evening. Yorkshire have run up two scores over 200 on this ground this season and another of 179. Derbyshire have not lacked for runs at any point either having scored 180 at Northants, 222 at Trent Bridge, 177 at Edgbaston and 211 against Lancashire. Two of the leading run scorers in the tournament are on show here and I expect to see more than 335.5 runs.
Moving back to the TV game and Ryan Higgins has looked good on most occasions that I have seen him this season including in Middlesex’s last game on the box down at Hove. With Malan, Stirling and McCullum not involved in this match Middlesex’s batting looks very light and it could be that Higgins goes up the order to give it a bit of slap and tickle but even if he doesn’t he may not be chasing too big a score when he comes in. At 20/1 he’s too big to ignore to top score.
Tips
Back Hampshire to beat Middlesex x Surrey to beat Sussex for a 4/10 stake at 2.72 with Skybet
Back them here:
VOID – Back C.Ingram’s Performance – Over 37.5pts for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
WON – Back Yorkshire vs Derbyshire – Over 335.5 runs for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
Back them here:
Back R.Higgins Top Middlesex Batsman for a 1/10 stake at 21.00 with Paddy Power
Back him here:
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