The Vitality Blast continues once again on Thursday with five matches taking place across two of the groups as the competition heads towards the halfway mark in the group stages in this heavily delayed campaign.
Two of the matches are live on TV for us in the UK but the other three games can all be watched on the relevant live streams of the counties involved so on what looks like a great day of action there is no need to miss any of it.
Central Group
The televised double header forms the action in the Central Group on Thursday with it getting underway with the 2018 champions Worcestershire, who badly need a positive result from this match, when they take on a Somerset side who are likely to get stronger from here on in as players return from international duty. The second part of the double header sees the runaway leaders in the section in Northamptonshire returning to the scene of their two title wins when they take on a hit and miss Glamorgan side.
South Group
We have a full set of matches in the South Group on Thursday with one in the afternoon and two in the evening. The afternoon match comes from Hove where potentially the two best sides in the group meet when Sussex host Kent. Hampshire picked up a win in their last match and they will be looking to build on that with Shaheen Afridi in their ranks for the first time when they make the trip to The Oval to take on a Surrey side who are underperforming. The other match in the evening comes from Lord’s where Middlesex take on the defending champions Essex.
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TV Betting
It feels like a day to go in hard in the TV matches and that is what I’m going to go. We’ll begin with the Worcestershire against Somerset match where the 9.5 sixes line is way too low. It would have been low had the pitch been in the middle of the square but as we saw in the live game on Wednesday night, it is nowhere near the middle so there is going to be a short boundary to attack. Both teams have a mix of left and right-handers to have that short boundary on offer throughout their innings. It isn’t going to take big hitters to clear that boundary but with the likes of Hamish Rutherford, Riki Wessels, Ross Whiteley, Babar Azam, Lewis Gregory and Tom Abell all on show there are enough of them. I expect the over to land here.
I’m happy to get on the runs in this match too. The wicket looked a beauty for the Birmingham vs Gloucestershire game on Wednesday and it isn’t going to have worn too much in 24 overs and if it is the pitch next door that is used that will be completely fresh. We’ve no weather issues to worry about so the runs should flow. Both these attacks have gone around the park in this competition and both teams bat deep that there is no need to let up completely at any point. The run line is only 320.5 but I’d be very surprised if that isn’t covered here.
Going back to the sixes, Hamish Rutherford at 11/10 to hit a six in this match is just too big. He hit a couple of sixes against Gloucestershire last time out and being a left-hander Max Waller is going to be turning the ball into him so he can slog sweep or hit big. There isn’t a seamer in the Somerset side who has extreme heat or hidden skills like say Pat Brown so he should be able to score off them too. Rutherford is a clean hitter of a ball and that 11/10 on him to hit a six is way too big.
Moving into the second game and I see no reason why the sixes won’t continue to flow when Northamptonshire take on Glamorgan. Northamptonshire look a real class unit at the minute and their top four stands up to anything in the entire tournament in terms of quality, power and confidence and it would be a surprise if they don’t clear the ropes a few times. Glamorgan batsmen in this format generally adopt the ‘they are there for a good time rather than a long time’ mantra in this format of the game but they can hit sixes on most grounds. Over 10.5 sixes should land here although I’ll lower the stakes from the first game as it is the second match on the pitch.
I can’t resist a little dabble on Marchant de Lange to top score for Glamorgan in this match. So far in this tournament he has batted at five, six and nine. Only Chris Cooke has scored any runs for the Welsh outfit in this competition so far so I would expect Northants to target him when he comes in and if he goes early it is game on in the top batsman market. De Lange clubbed 28 from 19 balls against Somerset last time out which is actually the second highest individual score apart from the three innings Cooke has delivered. The other was a 29 from Billy Root. Add to the fact that de Lange has already splattered a Northants attack everywhere this summer when he belted 113 off 78 in the Bob Willis Trophy against them. He isn’t a batsman but it looks like he’ll go up the order and he has the pitch where being a slogger could just pay off. I’ll pay to see how he goes.
Other Matches
I’ll take just the one from elsewhere although I am dying to take Hampshire to beat Surrey I must admit! I’ll refrain from that though and side with over 10.5 sixes between Sussex and Kent at Hove. These are two batting heavy sides who should be looking to get their front feet out of the way and swinging through the line on what is always a good wicket. There has been a fair bit of cricket at Hove over the last month or so and with a women’s match here on Saturday I suspect this pitch will be away from the centre of the square.
There were 11 sixes here when these two met last season in a match where 154 was the first innings score. On that occasion Sussex had Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer and Rashid Khan playing for them and none of them will be in action here. These two sides have already shown their class with the bat this season and I’m not expecting too much to change in that regard here. This is a day game so there is no need to worry about the ball zagging around under lights. The over looks good to me.
Tips
WON – Back Worcestershire vs Somerset – Over 9.5 sixes for a 5/10 stake at 1.83 with BetVictor
Back M.de Lange Top Glamorgan Batsman for a 1/10 stake at 101.00 with BetVictor
WON – Back Sussex vs Kent – Over 10.5 sixes for a 3/10 stake at 1.85 with BetVictor
Back them here:
WON – Back Worcestershire vs Somerset – Over 320.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
WON – Back H.Rutherford – Over 0.5 sixes for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with Bet365
Back Northamptonshire vs Glamorgan – Over 10.5 sixes for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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