The Vitality Blast quarter finals get underway on Wednesday night with places at Finals Day the prize at the end of the evening. The first knockout clash sees Lancashire hosting Essex at the neutral venue of the Durham ICG.
Lancashire came through to this stage courtesy of dominating the North Group in the first stage of the competition while Essex finished fast to overtake a number of sides to come into fourth spot in the South Group.
Lancashire
Heading into the tournament there was a feeling that the only thing that would deny Lancashire a strong run in this competition was injuries. By and large they have avoided them to serious players and the expected results have come along in turn. There is no weakness to this Lancashire side with plenty of power in their batting but some cleverness in the middle if it goes wrong and they have arguably the best bowling attack in the tournament.
They have good depth in their seam department and a number of good spinners so whatever the conditions are they have the players to be able to deal with them. They are regulars at finals day so knockout cricket doesn’t faze them either and you get the feeling they are the team to beat in this competition from here on in. The only thing perhaps not to like about them is the neutral venue.
Essex
We have seen on a number of occasions that the best team in the tournament doesn’t always win it and quite often we see away sides winning quarter finals because they are the ones going into them with all the momentum and quite often because they have played must win or knockout cricket heading into them. That is the case with Essex who have played two such matches to finish fourth and they have to take confidence from their performances in that.
The flip side of that is they were in that position in the first place because there were weaknesses which were exploited and this Essex side have a couple of them. I don’t really think their seam attack stands up to scrutiny as often as it needs to be and their batting is very light if they lose a couple of early wickets. With someone like Harmer in at seven, although no rabbit, it highlights a lack of batting depth which is a huge concern.
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Team News
Lancashire have named an unchanged squad for this quarter final which means that Glenn Maxwell is available for the final time before heading back to Australia. Matt Parkinson is the leading wicket taker in the tournament and will play.
Essex do not have the luxury of having their overseas player available though as Mohammad Amir has left to join up with Pakistan. They do have Adam Zampa available though. Sam Cook could replace Amir in the side.
Betting
I’ll go with a couple of bets for this first quarter final although it might be that we are waiting until Thursday for them to run because it has to be said the forecast for the Durham area is not great. I do think Lancashire will win this match but the potential for a shortened game if one does take place on Wednesday puts me off getting involved at a short price.
One bet I like in the match markets is for Liam Livingstone to score more than 23.5 runs. He clobbered 70 on this ground earlier in the tournament when Lancashire played Durham and there is a fair argument to be made that the Durham new ball bowlers are significantly better than the ones he is going to face here. Livingstone has tucked into a number of attacks this summer with his last nine scores in this tournament being 25, 21, 70, 3, 10, 22, 32, 58 and 28. There are plenty of gaps on this ground and a lot of room over the top for him to exploit and so I expect one of the best players in the country to go beyond 23.5 runs.
Ryan ten Doeschate should enjoy this ground as there is a lot of space to tip and run for twos and even threes and that is a large part of his game. He’s also a decent player of spin as well which you have to be when you play in the middle order against this Lancashire side. With the likes of Saqib Mahmood and Richard Gleeson good enough to take care of the top order, it could well come down to an experienced head who has been there and seen it all who guides Essex to something manageable if they are setting or over the line if they are chasing. There aren’t many with more experience than ten Doeschate so the 13/2 on him top scoring looks decent enough to me.
Tips
Back L.Livingstone – Over 23.5 runs for a 4/10 stake at 1.85 with BetVictor
Back him here:
WON – Back R.ten Doeschate Top Essex Batsman for a 1/10 stake at 7.50 with 888sport
Back him here:
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