The Vitality Blast is heading towards the second half of the group stage and on the way there we have four matches in the competition on Wednesday night, including a match live in front of the TV cameras for us to enjoy.
Two of the matches come from the North Group and two of the games come from the South Group so it is a nicely balanced night of action. Live streams are in operation for a couple of the other matches so we can keep up to date with it all.
North Group
The televised match comes from the North Group on Wednesday night and it sees two former champions Leicestershire Foxes and the Birmingham Bears battling it out in a match which could well be important in the race for those quarter final places. Elsewhere there is one match in this section of the competition and it comes from Wantage Road where another side who have lifted the trophy in the past, Northamptonshire, take on Durham in what is a big match for the pair of them.
South Group
Kent were overtaken at the top of the pile on Tuesday evening when Sussex went back above them, but the Spitfires have the chance to reclaim the number one spot when they head to Bristol to take on a Gloucestershire side who are going to need to go on a winning run soon if they are going to make the last eight. The same applies for Essex and Somerset and one of them will launch that late dart for a top four spot when they do battle at Chelmsford.
New customers only, bet up to £/€20 on the Exchange and if your first bet loses, we’ll refund you £/€20 in Cash. Bet must be placed in first 7 days of account opening. T&Cs apply.
TV Match Betting
I’m tempted by Leicestershire in the TV match because Birmingham are battered by injuries but the Foxes have taken a couple of maulings on their home ground which is very much a concern. Both those matches have had high scoring innings, or what would have been a high scoring innings had a target not been reached. With that in mind I think over 37.5 boundaries could be a goer here. In the first match on this ground Yorkshire hit 37 themselves while Durham plundered 24 here in just 11.1 overs. These aren’t the best batting sides in the competition but Grace Road is very much a road and I fancy we’ll see the boundaries flow once again.
Lewis Hill hasn’t really had that breakthrough innings this season but he top scored with 49* here against Yorkshire earlier in the competition and made a valuable 23 in the win over Worcestershire at the weekend so there is definitely a score in him. If it is going to come it will most likely be here where he can hit through the line of the ball cleanly on boundaries which are very accessible to him. At 8/1 I’ll play and see if this is the night he comes good. It very well could be.
Other Matches
There are two bets I like in the other matches over the course of the night. Down in Chelmsford I’m expecting an extravaganza of big hitting and plenty of runs. Essex have batted freely at home, even when it didn’t work out for them against Hampshire earlier in the competition. They still hit six sixes in that match even though they were skittled for 133 so there is the potential for plenty of sixes here, especially with the freedom and class that Somerset are batting with at present. There are some proper clean hitters on both sides here and if you take Mohammad Amir out of the equation there isn’t really a tight bowler among them. With that in mind I’m expecting more than 12.5 sixes here.
Down at Bristol I have to side with the man who has the most wickets in the competition so far in Hardus Viljoen to cover a modest performance target of just 25.5pts. Viljoen has covered this line with the ball in all but one of his matches this season and with Gloucestershire’s top order not in the form they would like to be in there is likely to be wickets up for grabs here. Two wickets gets the job done but it wouldn’t be a complete surprise if Gloucestershire’s canny bowling attack gets the South African in for a big of Reggie Biffington down the order. I fancy he’ll cover this with the ball though so the over on his performance is a pretty easy bet to take here.
Tips
WON – Back Leicestershire vs Birmingham – Over 37.5 boundaries for a 4/10 stake at 2.10 with William Hill
Back it here:
Back L.Hill Top Leicestershire Batsman for a 1/10 stake at 9.00 with Coral
Back him here:
WON – Back Essex vs Somerset – Over 12.5 sixes for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
WON – Back H.Viljoen’s Performance – Over 25.5pts for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2019
