In a summer that has already had the World Cup and The Ashes, the biggest and best day of the cricket year is upon us on Saturday when four counties head to Edgbaston to compete at Vitality Blast finals day.
Derbyshire, Essex, Nottinghamshire and Worcestershire are the four teams remaining and one of them will walk off with the title. We’ll preview both the semi-finals in due course but a few firms have offered up odds on the day so it would be rude not to get stuck in.
Top Batsman
The first market we’ll look at is the Finals Day Top Batsman, where as you would expect Alex Hales and Moeen Ali, two components of England’s success over the last few years, are the two favourites to land the honours. One thing we know is that because Nottinghamshire and Worcestershire meet, only one of these two men will see a second innings on the day, and while the winner has come from a man with one innings in the past, we would give ourselves the best chance of finding the winner if we get a second knock.
You can make a case for a few players in this field although I don’t really want to get involved in anyone who won’t be batting in the top three. I’ve a feeling that Derbyshire will go well over the course of the day and so I fancy their top three to go well. Wayne Madsen is the leading run scorer of anyone on show on Saturday but he’s only three runs ahead of Billy Godleman and it is the latter that I’m going to side with here. He has filled his boots in the Championship since the quarter final with a couple of tons and he has gone past 50 three times in his last six T20 innings. One of those innings was 92 against Worcestershire which could be significant should they play each other in the final. Godleman is the man Derbyshire look to bat around and at 12/1 he’ll do for me.
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Top Bowler
After a look at the batsman market it is time to get stuck into the bowler market where traditionally the winner is much easier to find because often it is the player who has made the biggest impact in the competition. I’ve a feeling that after this long summer and the roasting hot day that is forecast that we might see a spinner going well so I’m going to take a spinner and the main man of the competition thus far.
Ravi Rampaul is the leading wicket taker in the tournament so it stands to reason that he’ll go well here. One of the reasons why he has gone so well is because he bowls two overs up front and two at the death when the slog is on and the cheap wickets come along. He took three wickets on this ground in the group stage and has the experience to go well again. This young Derbyshire side need their attack leader to be on it and with Essex’s top order pretty flaky I think he will be. He’s a decent price at 12s.
Moeen Ali was in the news on Friday for not getting a Test contract with England and he has the perfect platform to show them what they are missing here. Ali had a brilliant finals day last year with 2/16 in the semi-final and 3/30 in the final and earlier in the competition he took 4/18 against Worcestershire’s semi-final opponents Nottinghamshire. He’s too big at 14/1 to ignore given the conditions expected.
Total Sixes
One of the big talking points heading into any finals day is how many sixes there will be. I suspect that this year won’t have as many as we would have seen in recent times. I say that for a couple of reasons. The biggest one is the conditions. We’ve had a heck of a summer and Edgbaston has been a huge part of it. They hosted a number of World Cup matches and an Ashes Test as well as all the county cricket that has been here too and on another scorching hot day the wicket might not play as true as it may have done in previous years.
The other reason why a lack of sixes could be seen is because Derbyshire are among the lower hitters going around. They have only hit 55 in 13 matches and that includes just 13 in their last five. Were they to make the final, their lack of hitting combined with the few sixes they leak when they have the ball in hand makes me think that 35.5 sixes is a line that isn’t going to be covered.
Tips
Back B.Godleman Top Finals Day Batsman for a 1/10 stake at 13.00 with 888sport
Back R.Rampaul Top Finals Day Bowler for a 1/10 stake at 13.00 with 888sport
Back M.Ali Top Finals Day Bowler for a 1/10 stake at 15.00 with 888sport
WON – Back Under 35.5 Finals Day sixes for a 4/10 stake at 1.85 with 888sport
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