The group phase of the Vitality Blast concludes this weekend and the remaining matches begin on Friday where we have plenty of fixtures even though one has been cancelled, as teams battle it out for places in the quarter finals.
With the England and Pakistan T20 series getting underway on Friday none of these matches have any televised treatment but they will all be available on the county streams which have been excellent this season so they can all be viewed.
North Group
There are two rounds of matches left in the North Group and we are reduced to three matches on Friday evening after the Covid problems that Derbyshire are suffering has caused their game with Northamptonshire to be cancelled. That leaves us with the leaders Nottinghamshire, who have already secured home advantage in the quarter finals, making the short trip to Leicestershire. It is a much bigger night for Lancashire and Durham though. Lancashire sits fourth with Durham fifth ahead of their meeting at Old Trafford. The other match sees the Birmingham Bears hosting rivals Worcestershire in a match both need to win too.
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South Group
There are five matches in the South Group on Friday as Hampshire stage a double header to catch up after they were unable to use their home ground earlier in the competition because of the international matches there. They begin that double header knowing that only two wins will do if they are to have any chance of reaching the knockout stages. That begins against Essex in the afternoon and then continues against Sussex in the evening. There is another early start when Gloucestershire host Surrey in a match both teams need to win at Cheltenham. Should Gloucestershire slip up in that match then Kent can secure a home quarter final if they can beat bottom of the pile Middlesex at Lord’s. The other match comes from Cardiff where Somerset go after the win they need to keep their qualification hopes alive.
Betting
I’ll go with three bets over the course of the day in these matches. The first of those comes in the form of Hampshire to beat Essex. Hampshire were terrible in the early stages of this competition but they have come good in the latter part of it. Even though they were bad at the beginning they still beat an Essex side who have gotten no better as the campaign has gone along. This is as strong as Hampshire have been at any stage personnel wise and with two matches in a day they will be eager to get off to a good start. With that in mind, I think the home side are decent things here.
The second bet comes in the other match in the afternoon where I think Gloucestershire and Surrey can play out a high scoring match at Cheltenham. This is an outground and the boundaries aren’t terribly big here and the pitches have generally been pretty flat over the last couple of weeks. Gloucestershire and Middlesex played out a relatively high scoring match and with Surrey having the likes of Will Jacks back in their squad for this match and players like Laurie Evans, Rory Burns and Jordan Clark who can all get on with it, I think we’ll see a match that contains more than 326.5 runs for the second time here at Cheltenham.
Moving into the evening matches and the bet I like is for Worcestershire to beat the Birmingham Bears. I took the Bears outright this season but injuries and Covid issues have absolutely killed them and while they get their West Indian pair of Kyle Mayers and Carlos Brathwaite back here they remain without the likes of Tim Bresnan, Dan Mousley and one or two others who could be expected to make an impression. Worcestershire head to Edgbaston with good memories of winning the title there three years ago and have won four of their last five matches. The last of those was a demolition job of the Bears and I think they can complete the double here.
Tips
Back Hampshire to beat Essex for a 3/10 stake at 1.73 with Betfair
Back them here:
Back Gloucestershire vs Surrey – Over 326.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
Back Worcestershire to beat Birmingham Bears for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Coral
Back them here:
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