There is a full round of matches in the Vitality Blast on Friday night on an evening which could be pivotal in both groups as we begin to move deeper into the second part of the group stage of the domestic T20 competition.
With all the international cricket out of the way now until Saturday we have televised action on Friday evening which comes in the form of the London derby. The other seven matches will all be shown on the respective county streams although some weather needs to be dodged.
North Group
Yorkshire sit on top of the North Group and they have the chance to enhance their position when they make the trip down the M1 to take on Leicestershire at Grace Road. Nottinghamshire are in second place and they have a local derby against Derbyshire to get stuck into while Durham in fourth will look to enhance their qualification credentials when they head over to New Road to take on Worcestershire. Northamptonshire finally won a match earlier in the week and will hope to build on that when they entertain Lancashire at Wantage Road.
South Group
It is from the South Group that the televised action will come from. That sees Surrey looking to remain in the top four when they host their London rivals Middlesex who probably need a miracle to qualify from here on in. Elsewhere in this group, Somerset will look to throw themselves into the qualification mix when they host a poor Hampshire side, albeit one which has Colin de Grandhomme available for the first time. Gloucestershire hit the front in the group on Thursday night and head to Hove to take on third placed Sussex while second placed Kent travel to Chelmsford to face an Essex side who kept their hopes alive with a win at Middlesex on Thursday evening.
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TV Match Betting
I’ll go with one in the TV match where the runs line is up at 320.5 for the match between Surrey and Middlesex at The Oval. Maybe that is a reaction to the match between the two at Lord’s but I think it is plenty high enough here. That match I mentioned saw Surrey post 223/7 and Middlesex reach 169/9 in reply. It should be noted though that there were short boundaries at Lord’s that evening and that Jason Roy, Sam Curran and Tom Curran scored 91 of those runs and that Sam Curran took four wickets and Tom bowled his four overs for 26.
In reply, Paul Stirling clobbered 58 in no time and Eoin Morgan added 32 and neither of those are around for this one either. The pitches at The Oval aren’t the flat tracks they used to be and the last two matches here have seen first innings scores of 118 and 146/8 and spin is starting to be really hard to get away. I think that trend of low scoring matches here is the thing to concentrate on and with Middlesex not particularly good and when the wheels come off for them they really come off I suspect we’ll see a lower scoring game than this line suggests.
Other Matches Betting
I’ll go with two in the other matches with the first one being Durham to beat Worcestershire. It has gone a little pear shaped for Worcestershire this season and I suspect that the absence of Moeen Ali is a lot to do with that. They take on a Durham side who slipped up against Northamptonshire last time out but who have been playing some decent cricket prior to that and this is a chance for Ben Stokes to remind everyone who he is so important to England later in the year. Worcestershire could be without Ben Cox who is a huge player for them here and do not seem to be bowling well. Durham are batting pretty nicely and I expect them to get the job done here.
The other bet I like comes from Hove where Sussex take on Gloucestershire and although the visitors played on Thursday evening I still think they are overpriced for the match given how well they are going. It should be noted there is a chance this match doesn’t go ahead as the outfield is apparently very wet after Friday morning rain but if it does go ahead that might suit Gloucestershire because Sussex have some big powerful bowlers whose footing might be a bit hit and miss. Gloucestershire are in fine form with the bat and look to be improving all the time with the ball. Sussex won the Second XI T20 on Thursday with a strong side out so the fact that Gloucestershire played on Thursday isn’t the issue it might normally have been. They look a big price to me here.
Tips
Back Surrey vs Middlesex – Under 320.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
Back Durham to beat Worcestershire for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with Sky Bet
Back Gloucestershire to beat Sussex for a 3/10 stake at 2.25 with Coral
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