The second round of matches begin in the Bob Willis Trophy on Saturday and with a heatwave sweeping through the UK, we should get some red hot cricket to match the weather as the 18 counties continue to target points in their quest for the Lord’s final.
Given that the weather is forecast to be so good for most of the country this week we shouldn’t have to worry too much about draws. Once again the Test match takes the TV attention so it is the live streams the county provides for us to use to keep up to date with the action.
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
Two sides who lost their opening match meet at the Riverside when Durham take on Lancashire. The loser of that one can start thinking about the T20 Blast. Two sides who won their opening match battle out for the early top spot in the group table at Grace Road where Leicestershire host a Derbyshire side who will be buzzing after their exceptional run chase last week. They beat Nottinghamshire who host a Yorkshire side who held their nerve at Durham last week in probably the most appealing game of the week in this group.
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Central Group
Worcestershire and Somerset were the two winners last week and they are both back in action from Saturday. Worcestershire will take on a Glamorgan side that Somerset beat last week while Somerset make the trip to Wantage Road to face Northamptonshire who draw their opening match. The other match in the group sees Gloucestershire, who were surprisingly beaten last week given that they were quietly fancied for this tournament, taking on Warwickshire who were involved in a pretty tame draw with Northamptonshire.
South Group
The three matches in the South Group sees the three winners all facing sides who lost last week so we’ll either have a six-way logjam after this round of matches or we might have three teams breaking clear and setting up a battle for top spot. Middlesex host Hampshire at Radlett in one of the matches while Essex host Surrey in the match that sees the last two County Championship winners going at it. Kent host Sussex in the other game in what looks like the pick of the three sections.
Betting
Middlesex were good for me last week and I’ll take them again this week as I don’t get how they are the even money outsiders to beat a Hampshire side who are missing so many players. From the strongest side Hampshire can put out they will be without James Vince, Kyle Abbott and Fidel Edwards for this one while Aneurin Donald continues to miss out with injury as well. This is a very young Hampshire squad heading to Radlett for this one.
Middlesex had a fine win over Surrey last week where their batsmen set the match up for their strong bowling attack to get the job done. The Surrey side they beat were injury ravaged like Hampshire but it was a stronger unit than the one they will be facing here. Hampshire are notoriously terrible starters to four-day seasons and were pretty vocal that they didn’t want any red ball cricket going into the campaign. They might wish they never bothered after this one.
Tips
Back Middlesex to beat Hampshire (DNB) for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Coral
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