There is one match in the Royal London One Day Cup on Monday afternoon with the South Group the centre of attention as two of the better one day sides in the country in recent years collide at the Ageas Bowl when Hampshire take on Surrey.
Both sides had differing results in their opening match but even so both will be keen to beat what could be a rival for the qualification spots so we should see a really competitive game of cricket in perfect weather.
Hampshire
After enduring a poor start to the season in the County Championship given the expectation that went their way before the season began, it was important for Hampshire to get off to a winning start in this competition. They did that but they might still be wondering how they did because they looked dead and buried halfway through their batting innings.
Their lower order fired though and got them over the line against Sussex and if they can win this one then with players to come back from injury later in the competition they will feel as though there is a decent run in them. They will need more from their more established batsmen over the course of the campaign if they are to go deep in it.
Surrey
The beaten finalists of the past three seasons were widely tipped to go well in the tournament this time around too but they suffered a horrendous start to their campaign when they lost to Somerset on Friday. The losing part wasn’t necessarily the problem but to be routed for less than 130 is less than ideal and they will be looking for a big response here.
They have the batsmen to put up big totals so I am expecting that their first match was just being caught cold or a bad day at the office. Of more concern is their bowling although in fairness considering they were defending absolutely nothing they bowled with credit against Somerset on Friday.
Team News
Hampshire remain without three big players in Sam Northeast, Liam Dawson and Kyle Abbott so they have named an unchanged squad for this match. Mason Crane will get the spin honours alongside Brad Taylor.
Surrey have also named an unchanged squad which means that they will be without Morne Morkel once again as he recovers from injury. Mark Stoneman is away with England while Jason Roy and Aaron Finch are at the IPL still.
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Match Betting
I’m going to load up the bets here with my first one being to chance Surrey to find the win. I don’t think there is much between these two sides although if anything I would give the edge to Surrey if I had to. My big fear for Hampshire is that too much of their batting is about Hashim Amla and James Vince and if either, or both, were to fail their lower order won’t always bail them out. This Surrey side bat very deep and they have enough experienced campaigners in their ranks with the ball to get the job done. At the prices I’ll back Surrey to respond to their dismal performance on Friday by winning here.
Side Markets
Neither of these sides are blessed with natural big hitters and both have pretty decent attacks where there is no real let up in the quality so I’m not expecting many sixes in this match. When you throw in the fact that this is one of the bigger grounds in the country the sixes are even less likely to flow. Were Hashim Amla to dominate the Hampshire innings he is unlikely to clear these ropes too often and the same can be said for Dean Elgar or Rory Burns for Surrey. With all that in mind a 7.5 sixes line looks a touch high.
One line that might not be high is the runs line for Ollie Pope which at 24.5 looks quite low. He is an exciting young talent who has already banged in 145 against Hampshire in the Championship this season. He smacked another big hundred against Yorkshire last week and while he was out without scoring on Friday he will score runs more often than he will fail. He should get a decent batting track here so I expect him to make it to 25 at the very least in this one.
Finally I’ll have a go on Lewis McManus to top score for Hampshire. I’ve already said there is plenty of quality in their top three but there isn’t a huge amount below that so McManus, who is in decent form has a chance at a big price. He knocked in 41 in the win at Hove on Saturday and already has a Championship 50 to his name this season. If Hampshire have any sense his knock on Saturday will have moved him up a spot or two in the order so at 16/1 I’ll pay to see how well he goes here.
Tips
Back Surrey to beat Hampshire for a 4/10 stake at 2.30 with Bet365
VOID – Back Under 7.5 sixes for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Ladbrokes
Back it here:
Back O.Pope – Over 24.5 runs for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Coral
Back L.McManus Top Hampshire Batsman for a 1/10 stake at 17.00 with Coral
Back them here:
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