The Vitality Blast comes back to our screens on Thursday evening when two South Group rivals battle it out at the Ageas Bowl when Hampshire meet the pacesetters Sussex in what feels like a vital game for sides.
Both teams have played a match fewer than the others in the group so they will reach the halfway point of their campaign here, but neither are currently in the top two so they will both be eager to pick up the two points on what is set to be a nice evening in Southampton.
Hampshire
When you consider the players Hampshire have had missing this summer for various reasons, it would not have been too difficult to expect little from them, and to be fair that is pretty much what we’ve got from them in the tournament to date. James Vince, Liam Dawson, Kyle Abbott, Rilee Rossouw and Fidel Edwards haven’t bowled or hit a ball in anger in this competition but Vince is back for this match and the arrival of Shaheen Afridi offers hope for the two-time former champions.
Given that they have been without some big players to have a win and a washout from their four matches is probably no bad thing. They will now hope to put a run together now that they are back at their home the Ageas Bowl but if that is to happen they are going to need to bowl a lot better than what they have done so far in the tournament. To be fair to them though, the weather did them no favours in their last match against Surrey.
Sussex
It looked like Sussex would steamroll the South Group when they won their first two completed matches but they were edged out in their last game against Kent and now all of a sudden they are chasing the pace. All three of their completed games have been relatively high scoring which is interesting because on the face of it they look to have a decent enough bowling attack even though they are missing the likes of Jofra Archer and Chris Jordan.
The latter of those return to pep up their bowling attack but they will be without Phil Salt who has gone off on England duty and that splits up the strength of their side. There is a feeling that the Sussex batting is a little light so they will be keen to losing early wickets in order to ensure they don’t end up in a right hole. One thing they do have is a couple of tidy spinners and given the amount of cricket the Ageas Bowl has seen this summer that might be important.
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Team News
Hampshire have James Vince available for the first time in a while after his child was safely born. He will replace George Munsey who is out injured. There is still no Liam Dawson and won’t be anything from him at all this season.
Chris Jordan returns to the Sussex squad after completing his England stint but they remain without Jofra Archer and Phil Salt has now left the ranks too. Ben Brown has come into the squad to keep wicket but who will fill the opening position isn’t clear.
Betting
I’ll go with a couple of bets for this match with the first of them being under 8.5 sixes. Looking at the three T20 internationals on this ground in the last week I didn’t see signs of another pitch being prepared so I’m guessing this will be the fourth time in just under a week that this wicket will have been used so there is every chance it is going to be difficult to score on. The sixes line was only covered in one of those three matches and that was the day game when 10 were hit. There isn’t a lot of six hitting capacity in these two sides and that is lessened by the fact that Phil Salt isn’t playing. There’s no Jos Buttler or Aaron Finch in these two teams so that 8.5 sixes line looks a little high to me.
Chris Jordan coming back strengthens the Sussex bowling attack without any doubt so the Hampshire top order might well be in danger of getting shot out. Having James Vince back will help but it is still an inexperienced top order outside of him and Sam Northeast, and with Vince not having been around the camp for a while he might find scoring on a tacky wicket difficult. That makes me think that James Fuller might be value at 12/1 to top score for Hampshire. He made 50 in the reverse fixture between these two and looks to be hitting the ball quite nicely. Against this Sussex attack he shouldn’t be without a shout at 12/1.
Tips
WON – Back Under 8.5 sixes for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with BetVictor
Back it here:
Back J.Fuller Top Hampshire Batsman for a 1/10 stake at 13.00 with William Hill
Back him here:
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