The third place at the Vitality Blast finals day will be filled on Thursday evening when Somerset play host to Lancashire in the third of the quarter finals down at Taunton, as two former champions bid to make it back to the big party once again.
Neither of these sides are strangers to finals day. No team have made it to the big day more than Lancashire but Somerset have been there plenty of times themselves in recent years so both know what is needed to win this match.
Where to watch
This match will be shown live and in full on the Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Cricket channels once the fallout from the Test match has concluded. The match begins at 7pm.
Somerset
Somerset earned a home quarter final courtesy of finishing second in the South Group. They actually went into their final match in a knockout situation as if they had been beaten by Gloucestershire they wouldn’t have made the last eight at all. They will be hoping the fact that they held their nerve when it mattered will serve them well in this quarter final as they bid for another appearance at finals day and another trophy to add to the cabinet.
Somerset have been increasingly good with the bat in this competition and that led to them winning four of their last five matches to round off the group phase. Since then a number of their players have gone to play in The Hundred which will serve them well here. The one doubt about the Somerset team is their bowling and that is a concern against a Lancashire side who are a very confident batting team.
Lancashire
The first stage of the competition was a story of two halves for Lancashire. They absolutely flew out of the blocks at the start of the campaign but then England came calling for their white ball sides and that deprived them of arguably their four most important players. Inevitably their form suffered as a result but they found something when it mattered most towards the end of the group campaign to ensure they made it through to this quarter final.
Lancashire won their last three matches to make it through to the last eight, a position in the tournament in which they are comfortable having reached this stage on 14 occasions now. They have been to finals day eight times but the one disappointing thing about their record in this tournament is that they have only won the title once. They look to have a squad to change that when everyone is available but that luxury isn’t afforded to them here.
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Team News
Somerset will be without their leading run scorer in the competition in Devon Conway for this quarter final as he has headed off on international duty while second leading wicket taker Craig Overton is away with England. That could give Jack Brooks or Jack Leach the chance to shine on a big stage.
Lancashire are also without their top scorer in the tournament in Finn Allen. He has gone to play for New Zealand while Saqib Mahmood hasn’t been released by England even though he hasn’t been selected for the Test match. Jos Buttler is also missing but Matt Parkinson is available.
Betting
I’m expecting to see some sixes in this match. The sixes line is 11.5 which is fairly low when you consider the dimensions of Taunton and based on what we’ve seen over the last six weeks or so, if Liam Livingstone catches fire then he could near enough cover this total on his own. There are an awful lot of big hitters on both sides though who can contribute to any sixes total here so the over in the sixes looks a better way of playing the match rather than the winner.
Both teams are missing a key seamer which isn’t ideal when it comes to potentially defending a score so I would imagine the chasing side would have every chance in this match even allowing for the pressure of runs on the board, which we saw hamper Nottinghamshire to dramatic effect on Wednesday evening. Both these sides have been playing knockout cricket in this competition this season in their last group matches so calling the winner isn’t easy to call. Take the sixes instead.
Tips
Back Over 11.5 sixes for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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