The first matches of this season’s Royal London One Day Cup take place on Thursday as 12 of the counties get their limited overs campaign underway on a busy day of 50 over cricket up and down England.
We have a TV match which is the later match to begin (start time 12.30pm) while those matches which aren’t on TV all get underway at 11am so the batsmen might be up against it a little to begin with.
North Group
There are three matches to get things underway in the North Group on Thursday. Defending champions Warwickshire begin their title defence in front of the cameras when they head to the T20 winners Northamptonshire in the later start.
The other two matches sees a tasty looking clash between our tournament pick Worcestershire and Nottinghamshire at New Road while Derbyshire make the long trip up north to take on a Durham side needing the points given that they start on -2.
South Group
Plenty of action in the South Group on Thursday too. Lord’s plays host to Middlesex and Sussex in a battle of two sides who will be looking to win the tournament while down in Bristol the 2015 winners Gloucestershire go up against Glamorgan. The other game in the South on Thursday sees Kent up against our other tournament pick Hampshire.
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Betting
I’m sticking with a couple of match bets on Thursday. I will get stuck into the many side markets as we go along in the tournament but this first day is a little early to be getting a form guide and things. Luckily a number of matches are on TV in this tournament so we’re not short of betting action over the next month.
In the live game I can’t ignore the injuries that Northants have had in their bowling attack over the last week or so and while the likes of Azharullah and Gleeson are fit and in the squad the absence of Rory Kleinveldt in particular will be missed with both the bat and the ball.
Warwickshire are a very solid 50 over outfit. They have the best platform layers in the game and some destructive players down the order to build from that. They also have an excellent bowling attack which in April in England can’t be discounted. I fancy the champions will begin their title defence with a win.
Away from the cameras I like the look of Glamorgan to cause an upset down at Bristol. Although the wicket there was good for batting in the Championship an 11am start is going to assist the bowlers and Glamorgan’s bowling attack with Meschede and van der Gugten back is pretty strong.
Throw in Michael Hogan, Marchant de Lange and Lukas Carey and add to it the batting power of Colin Ingram and Chris Cooke as well as the class of Jacques Rudolph and Glamorgan must be respected. The hole Hamish Marshall leaves in Gloucestershire’s batting line up can’t be understated and with the international class this Glammy side have I’ll go with them first up.
Tips
WON – Back Warwickshire to beat Northamptonshire for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Titanbet
Back them here:
WON – Back Glamorgan to beat Gloucestershire for a 4/10 stake at 2.25 with BetVictor
Back them here:
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