While the Test match begins at Trent Bridge two more Royal London One Day Cup matches will be played at Grace Road in Leicester and Lord’s in London as Leicestershire, Durham, Middlesex and Nottinghamshire go in search of valuable group points.
Wednesday was another good day for the blog with a 10/1 top bat winner and the biggest bet of the day also winning. Sadly the rain denied us what looked like being another sure winner and hampered Warwickshire’s chances of winning too but I’ll take +10pts for the day literally any day of the week. That profit means we’ve made 33.72pts in this competition since Sunday. Hopefully we can make some more on Thursday.
Durham go into their match at Leicestershire knowing they have to win their last two and hope other results go with them in order to make the quarter finals but that isn’t as unlikely as it sounds. Leicestershire are already out of the competition and you just wonder with a Championship match on the horizon how much motivation they will carry into this game.
Nottinghamshire can secure a quarter final spot if they win at Lord’s but Middlesex are fighting hard for a place in the last eight themselves so that is sure to be a competitive match. I sense Middlesex have been flattered slightly in the competition so far as they haven’t really restricted any side apart from Kent and their website says they will shake up their side to maintain freshness for Friday’s Championship game.
With Middlesex not being able to restrict a side the last thing they need is this powerful Nottinghamshire team turning up to face them. Nottinghamshire haven’t always restricted sides themselves but they have more bowling options with Imran Tahir in town now and you’ve got to think they will take this chance to book a quarter final spot and set up the chance of a home game.
In the other match I expect Durham to beat Leicestershire. Motivation is a big thing at this stage of a competition and they are the only ones with any of that here. There is a slight concern over them stalling against spin but they should have too much with the ball and against the seamers. Sadly neither Durham nor Nottinghamshire are much of a price but stick them together and the double pays fair.
Back Durham to beat Leicestershire x Nottinghamshire to beat Middlesex for a 3/10 stake at 2.40 with Coral
Blog cricket YTD: -1.24pts
