It is a big day in the Royal London One Day Cup on Friday with seven matches across the two groups. With so many sides in action there will undoubtedly be plenty of movement in the two tables and as we head towards the halfway mark in the group stage those ups and downs are likely to be significant.
With the ODI getting the TV attention on Friday we are reduced to the county websites and radio commentaries to follow these matches but there are a raft of markets available for them all which we’ll get stuck into here.
North Group
We have four matches in the North Group on Friday with Derbyshire the only side not in action. Durham are in need of a win when they take on a Leicestershire side who have started well while the top two in the group meet at New Road when Yorkshire head down to face Worcestershire. At the other end of the table Northants and Lancashire both need to start winning and they meet at Old Trafford while Nottinghamshire head to Edgbaston to play Warwickshire.
South Group
There are just the three matches in the South but they are important nevertheless. Group leaders Somerset head across the Severn Bridge to take on Glamorgan while there is a big London derby at The Oval when Surrey go up against Middlesex. Kent host Sussex in the other match at Canterbury.
Match Betting
I’m going with three bets in the matches on Friday. I took Worcestershire to win this tournament before a ball was bowled in it and I certainly haven’t seen anything to suggest I was wrong to do so. But for an inspired innings late on from Adam Rossington the other night Worcestershire would have a 100% record like their opponents Yorkshire.
Yorkshire have begun the tournament well but they have lost the use of the likes of Jonny Bairstow, a man pivotal in their previous win, Joe Root, Liam Plunkett, David Willey and Adil Rashid and any side will miss that talent. They still have some quality in their ranks but so do Worcestershire and I believe the chance of the home side is significantly higher than the odds suggest.
Kent were on the wrong end of an inspired run chase against Somerset a couple of days ago when Matt Coles was heavily missed but he returns for their match with Sussex and in my eyes that makes the home side good things there too. Kent have one of the best batting line ups in the competition and with Coles available and Parnell able to bowl more than four overs I like the hosts. Sussex’s batting hasn’t convinced me all season and I think they are a bowler light too so I’ll go with Kent in this one.
Finally after seeing Middlesex and Surrey on Sky in the first week of this tournament I’m prepared to take the visitors in the London derby on Friday. Middlesex bat deep enough to cause Surrey issues, and Surrey have twice failed to finish innings off with the ball, and there is still enough in the Middlesex attack to deliver the goods. In fairness there isn’t much between the two sides but the fact Surrey are struggling to force home favourable positions leads me to think Middlesex are value there.
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Player Markets
Two player markets have my attention heading into Friday. In the player performances Toby Roland-Jones has a nice looking line at 31.5. In the two matches he has bowled in he has taken 2/46 against Gloucestershire and 4/10 against Hampshire. He has also made 65 with the bat against Gloucestershire too. Roland-Jones is more than a part-time batsman so even if he doesn’t take two wickets here he can pick up some runs but if he keeps up his wicket output he’ll cover that total with the ball.
Speaking of wickets, Marchant de Lange has two or more wickets in both full matches he has played in so far and one wicket in a rain shortened match which saw him restricted to just six overs. He is odds against to take more than 1.5 wickets against Somerset and that looks attractive to me. He is one of the best bowlers in county cricket and against a Somerset side whose openers are yet to make 25 between them in any of their three matches there should be wickets around for him to snaffle at the start of the innings as well as towards the end.
Tips
WON – Back Worcestershire to beat Yorkshire for a 4/10 stake at 2.25 with BetVictor
Back them here:
Back Kent to beat Sussex for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Betfair
Back them here:
Back Middlesex to beat Surrey for a 4/10 stake at 2.25 with Coral
Back them here:
Back T.Roland-Jones’ Performance – Over 31.5pts for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
Back it here:
Back M.de Lange Over 1.5 wickets for a 4/10 stake at 2.15 with Ladbrokes
Back him here:
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