The second semi-final of the Vitality Blast takes place at Edgbaston on Saturday afternoon a short while after the first semi has concluded as Kent Spitfires take on the Sussex Sharks for the right to play the earlier winners in the final.
Kent won the South Group in the regular stage of the season while Sussex finished third but both come through their quarter final challenges to make it back to finals day and give themselves a shot at another T20 crown.
Kent Spitfires
Given that the topped the South Group in the first part of the competition, you would imagine that the Kent Spitfires will be very confident heading to Edgbaston for the final stages of the tournament. Although that group stage feels like a long time ago, they won it and won it well and that was despite having to play an entire second team at certain points because of a Covid-19 scare in the ranks. That should give them a lot of confidence here.
The Spitfires were pretty good with bat and ball in the earlier stages of the competition but they are going to be without a key bowler here in Adam Milne. He didn’t play the whole tournament though. In fact, he only played in a third of their completed matches. Kent have relied on wickets with the new ball and then their spinners putting the squeeze on and might just have conditions for that here. They have a deep batting unit which feels significant here.
Sussex Sharks
The Sussex Sharks made it through the early stages of the competition but they didn’t dominate the group phase or anything like that. Injuries and certain England call ups didn’t help them in any way shape or form but they kept plugging away and got the job done in the end. They go into finals day in terrible form if you look just at their Championship results but we shouldn’t take much notice of those because they have fielded a young team in all of them.
They have saved their better players for the Vitality Blast and they will be looking to make full use of their options in this semi-final. One positive for this Sharks side is that a number of their squad have already won a trophy this season as many were involved for the Southern Brave in The Hundred. They have the bowling attack to win here but the big question is whether their batting holds up because they have looked a batsman light all season.
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Team News
Kent will be without Alex Blake for finals day which initially seemed like it might be a blow but actually he has only scored 72 runs in nine innings this season so his impact has been minimal. It might mean Darren Stevens gets a game. Adam Milne isn’t here but Qais Ahmad is.
Sussex Sharks will be without Rashid Khan but David Wiese and Ravi Bopara are back from the Caribbean Premier League in time for the day. Phil Salt and Chris Jordan will be representing Sussex for the final time over the course of the day.
Betting
You can barely move for places that are suggesting that Kent can’t win this match because Adam Milne isn’t around but he has played in a third of their matches this season and while it would be much preferred if he was there, it is nonsense to suggest that Kent can’t win because he isn’t. The same is actually the case if you use Rashid Khan in the Sussex argument, although Rashid’s batting would actually be useful.
That is by the by though really. I think Kent win this match because Sussex just look a batsman short to me, as they have done throughout the competition. When these two met Kent were forced to play a completely different XI to the one which will line up here and a Sussex team with both Rashid Khan and Jofra Archer playing in it still only won by four wickets. A much nearer full-strength Kent side against a Sussex team who might be light on runs after their top two can get the job done in this one.
Tips
Back Kent to beat Sussex for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with Coral
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