Knockout cricket doesn’t officially begin in the T20 Blast until the end of next week but for two sides it comes along a little earlier when two matches in the tournament take place on a huge night of action on Wednesday.
There is one match in each group and for the two home sides it is win or bust on what could be a pivotal night as the group stage draws to a close. We have a TV match and the other one should be on a live stream so there is no need to miss any of it. We’ll kick off with the TV game.
Birmingham Bears vs Lancashire
It is a huge night in the North Group for the Birmingham Bears. The equation for them is quite simple though. They must win to stay alive in the competition. If they lose they will be unable to qualify for the quarter finals. This is Lancashire’s last match in the group and a win would put them in a good place to host a quarter final.
Birmingham have failed to get any consistency going this season but two wins will give them every chance of making it into the knockout stages. Lancashire went through a bit of a wobble a week or so ago but they have responded nicely with three wins in a row and they have knocked off a couple of good opponents in that time too.
We have a nice clash in styles here with Birmingham batting ever so deep and Lancashire having a good bowling attack. Usually I would side with the best bowlers but we saw Durham stick in a horrendous display when they had qualified for the quarter finals and I’m wary Lancashire could do the same so instead of backing Lancashire I’ll head for the side markets.
One of the beauties of me being late to write this preview is we got to see which pitch is being used by watching the TV coverage of the women’s match and we can see there is a very short boundary to the New Stand side of the ground so I am expecting a lot of sixes here. The straight boundaries at Edgbaston are accessible so three sides of the ground can be peppered. Sixes totals have come to 14, 17, 21, 24 and 13 here so far with the two lower totals coming in matches where the scores have not reached 160 in either innings. I’m expecting better scoring here so over 14.5 looks the way forward.
When these two met last week James Faulkner took three wickets and clubbed a brief cameo in a good all-round performance and I think he can produce another to see him go past a performance line of 31.5pts. He could do that with two wickets which he has taken in five of his last six matches but a wicket and a dozen runs will do too. Even bits and pieces of scoring gives him a chance so the over looks good to me here.
Adam Hose top scored for Birmingham when these two sides met last week and his 45 in that match was the fourth time he has passed 40 in his last seven innings in the competition so he is in decent enough form. Ian Bell is the leading scorer in the competition for the Bears but were he to go early then Hose would have every chance of landing the top score against. He bats at three or four so the 7/1 quotes on him top scoring are far too big to ignore.
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Surrey vs Hampshire
The South Group match sees Surrey in exactly the same position as the Birmingham Bears. If they win they live to fight another day while if they lose their season is finished with a match still to play. Hampshire have been out of this competition near enough since it started and are playing to upset a party.
Hampshire have been wretched in this tournament but there were signs against Glamorgan at the weekend that they can be a dangerous side. If their top order fires and someone takes it on in the middle order they could challenge someone. Despite that I expect Surrey to win the match but 4/7 quotes offer little interest to me.
Tips
Back Birmingham Bears vs Lancashire – Over 14.5 sixes for a 4/10 stake at 1.85 with 888sport
Back it here:
Back A.Hose Top Birmingham Bears Batsman for a 1/10 stake at 8.00 with Unibet
Back him here:
Back J.Faulkner’s Performance – Over 31.5pts for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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