The opening night of the NatWest T20 Blast sees three matches taking place up and down the country as the tournament gets going under what should be blue skies in red hot temperatures perfect for cricket.
We have a TV match which is a repeat of the final from last season while there will be many other ways of keeping up with the other two matches as we get the campaign underway. Usually I would do a lengthy in-depth preview of all three games but with technical issues hampering me and time being tight I’ll scale it down a touch on this occasion.
Wednesday’s fixtures are as follows: (All 18.30 BST)
Nottinghamshire vs Birmingham Bears
Northamptonshire vs Leicestershire
Essex vs Sussex
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Preview
The TV match comes from Trent Bridge as Nottinghamshire look to repeat their success from the final of 2017 when they host Birmingham Bears while the other match in the North Group sees the 2016 winners Northamptonshire taking on the former champions Leicestershire at Wantage Road. In the South Group, the one match on show sees Essex facing Sussex in a battle of the leg spin of Adam Zampa and Rashid Khan.
TV Match Betting
I like bets in all three matches here. In the live game I think Birmingham Bears are overpriced. This Nottinghamshire batting line up may not be as fearsome as it was last year. It is missing Alex Hales and Brendan Taylor from that time while Ross Taylor isn’t here for the T20s. I think the Bears look an excellent outfit and they played Northants in a couple of warm up matches on Tuesday where their key batsmen got runs under their belt. The New Zealand duo of Grant Elliott and Colin de Grandhomme make them a stronger unit and with a gun batting line up and solid attack I need to be on them at 6/5.
Steven Mullaney led the run scoring for Nottinghamshire in the One Day Cup and having been given the captaincy of the North in the Caribbean and England Lions this summer he is gaining in stature substantially. He is 14/1 to be the top Nottinghamshire batsman here which while it is a long shot he shouldn’t be such a price. If Warwickshire get into this line up early Mullaney might be needed to rescue the home side at bid odds.
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Other Betting
Elsewhere there are a number of reasons to like Sussex to win at Essex. Essex look a batsman light to me which is a concern although in fairness with two overseas bowlers they should be able to account for that slightly. That said, Sussex have a very strong looking attack even without Chris Jordan. Rashid Khan will get the headlines but Jofra Archer is a gun player too. We should open up concerns over Sussex’s batting but they might not need a huge amount of runs with two economical bowlers in their midst. I’ll take them to make a winning start.
I think this is going to be a tournament for the spinners. I’m convinced of it given the weather we’ve had and are due to keep on having and with that in mind the performance line for Mohammad Nabi for Leicestershire at Northamptonshire looks a little low to me at 37.5. We’ve seen in events like the Big Bash and the IPL that Nabi takes wickets and Northants’ players haven’t always played spin well especially early in the innings. Chuck into the mix that as overseas player he’ll be fielding in key positions and that he can bat and it looks perfectly coverable to me.
Tips
WON – Back Birmingham Bears to beat Nottinghamshire for a 4/10 stake at 2.20 with Boylesports
Back them here:
WON – Back Sussex to beat Essex for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Betfair
Back them here:
Back M.Nabi’s Performance – Over 37.5pts for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
Back S.Mullaney Top Nottinghamshire Batsman for a 1/10 stake at 15.00 with Bet365
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