The Vitality Blast returns on Thursday evening after a short hiatus for a random round of Specsavers County Championship matches, and it comes back with the focus on the South Group where two matches will be played.
As has been the case for much of the summer, we have a match on TV after the day’s play at the Test match finishes, while the other match will have a live stream on the home county website so there is no need to miss any of the action if we don’t want to. We’ll begin the preview with the TV game.
Sussex vs Essex (19.00)
The main match of the night comes from Hove where Sussex will entertain Essex with the home side knowing that they will all but secure a quarter final spot with a win while the visitors will probably be thinking they need to win out to stand any chance of progressing.
Sussex have only lost one match all season in this competition and look like they could be the team to beat throughout. Essex have really struggled for consistency and one wonders if subconsciously at least, their attention will turn to the bid to regain their County Championship title where they are involved in a titanic race with Somerset.
I expect Sussex to win the match but they are missing one or two players with Delray Rawlins and Jofra Archer on international duty and Rashid Khan having left so I wouldn’t want to be taking them at odds on. Rashid has been replaced by Jason Behrendorff though which looks a great move so I’m expecting wickets to fall here. Both these bowling attacks are very good and both the batting line ups look more than a touch light to counter that. Over 12.5 wickets is of interest to me here, especially with the death bowling on show that can often mop up a few cheap wickets.
Whenever I can get fair odds on Ryan ten Doeschate top scoring for Essex I like to jump on board and the 6/1 on show here is perfectly acceptable to me. The former captain is probably still their best limited overs batsman and he has a couple of 50s in the competition already. This isn’t an Essex line up which is firing on all cylinders, neither is it one with oceans of class batsmen anyway. 6/1 on the former Dutch international looks too big to me here.
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Middlesex vs Hampshire (18.15)
The other match on the night comes from Lord’s where Middlesex play host to Hampshire in a South Group battle which is huge for both sides. Middlesex will all but secure a last four spot with a win while Hampshire will keep their hopes of going through alive if they are victorious, not least because it will keep their opponents here within their sight for a while longer.
Hampshire are a tempting price in my eyes, I can’t lie about that, but they are struggling to get over the line in this competition. Middlesex are still being priced up like they have AB de Villiers which they don’t for this match although they do have Mohammad Hafeez in for this one. Hampshire have added Tabraiz Shamsi to their ranks for the remainder of the group stage so both look strong here.
I’ve got to think that given the short turnaround between the Test match finishing and this match, and the subsequent indifferent weather we’ve had in between, this match will be played on the Test wicket. That was turning square by the end so this might not be the batting paradise we would normally expect it to be. Both these bowling attacks are genuinely top level and both sides are very top heavy with the bat. 340.5 runs might be beyond them on this pitch.
Tips
WON – Back Sussex vs Essex – Over 12.5 wickets for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Betway
Back it here:
Back R.ten Doeschate Top Essex Batsman for a 1/10 stake at 7.00 with Betfair
Back him here:
WON – Back Middlesex vs Hampshire – Under 340.5 runs for a 4/10 stake at 1.73 with Bet365
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