The penultimate round of matches in the Bob Willis Trophy group stage begin on Saturday and with places in the Lord’s final getting ever closer there should be a lot of competitive action over the course of the four days.
As has been the case throughout the competition so far, the Test action has taken up the TV slot so once again we are reduced to the various county streams that are on offer in order to keep up to date with the progress of the games.
The Format
The 18 counties are all competing in this tournament and have been split into three geographical groups – North, Central and South. Each team will play the other five counties in their group once with the two group winners with the most points progressing to the final at Lord’s at the end of September. As with the County Championship teams get 16 points for a win but eight for a draw, up from normal due to the potential for weather to intervene. First innings last a maximum of 120 overs with the usual set of bonus points available in the first 110 of them. A new ball can only be taken after 90 overs. If the final is drawn the team who leads after the first innings will win the title.
North Group
Although they sit second and third in the standings in the North Group, the big match this week is the Roses clash at Headingley as Yorkshire take on their rivals Lancashire in a match where the winners could well leave the week in pole position to top the table. It is Derbyshire who are currently on top of the table and they ‘host’ Durham although the match will be played at the Riverside as Derby have given their ground to the England women. The other match in the group is a local derby between Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire at Grace Road.
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Central Group
Worcestershire took over in top spot in the Central Group last week and they will be out to continue their march towards the Lord’s final when they host their local rivals Warwickshire at New Road. Somerset’s cruise towards Lord’s was held up by the rain last week and will look to get it back on track this week when they go up against a Gloucestershire side who are lingering in third place and not out of the reckoning yet. The bottom two meet in Northampton when Northamptonshire and Glamorgan play out a four-day match which might be more about getting into tune for the T20 Blast so don’t expect that one to last four days!
South Group
The top two meet in what could be the South Group title decider at Arundel this week when second placed Hampshire take on county champions and current leaders Essex. The visitors will win the group and all but book their place in the final at Lord’s if they come out on top in this match but a Hampshire win takes it to the final round. Kent won’t have given up on topping the table themselves and they will be expecting to pick up a win at The Oval against a Surrey side who haven’t got going this term. The other match sees Middlesex and Sussex playing out their second to last game.
Betting
There are a couple of bets that take my eye due to the England T20 squad taking key players away from sides. Yorkshire look like they need to be opposed but Lancashire are annoyingly missing plenty themselves which isn’t ideal. Kent should be expected to beat Surrey but again they are without a couple of players who have departed for England duty which is less than ideal. In the end I’ll go with one bet which comes in the form of Worcestershire to beat Warwickshire.
Worcestershire have been the better of these two sides for a while but that is especially the case when you consider that Warwickshire are without plenty of key men for this encounter. The likes of Adam Hose, Olly Stone and Liam Norwell are out injured and Dom Sibley and Chris Woakes are away with England. Worcestershire are only really missing Moeen Ali but they miss him more often than they see him anyway. They have a settled starting XI that have all bases covered and against a youthful Bears side I’m with Worcestershire in this one.
Tips
Back Worcestershire to beat Warwickshire (DNB) for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Bet365
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