Six or so weeks after the group stage concluded, the quarter finals of the Vitality Blast get underway on Tuesday evening when the South Group winners Surrey play host to the side who came fourth in the North Group in Durham.
A spot at finals day a week on Saturday will be the reward for the winners and with a vast of international cricketers on show here we should be treated to an excellent game of cricket as long as the weather continues to play ball.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Cricket channels with the build-up to the contest beginning at 5.45pm ahead of the 6pm start.
Surrey
Surrey were one of the dominant forces in the South Group earlier in the campaign and although they only propelled themselves to the top of it in the last couple of days of the first part of the season, they were never in any doubt of missing out on the quarter finals and in the main were always looking good for a spot which would have assured that they hosted the last eight match. Surrey go into this quarter final as warm favourites but haven’t always delivered in that situation it must be said.
When you look down this Surrey squad it is hard to argue which unit is stronger, the batting or the bowling. The bowling has international quality everywhere you look but there is international class galore with the bat as well even though Jason Roy is away in the Caribbean Premier League and Jamie Smith is with England. You get the feeling that this is a match for Surrey lose but it will be interesting to see if they can pick up where they left off after six weeks since the last group game.
Durham
I guess in many ways that Durham are the surprise package in this quarter final. They certainly snuck into the last eight through the back door having needed to win their last match in the group phase and hope that Leicestershire didn’t win their final game. Both results happened and now they get a crack at the winners of the South Group in a match where I guess they have nothing to lose, although this quarter final is pretty much their season now with them not really going anywhere in the County Championship.
Durham have a bowling unit which can be competitive against anyone, although it has to be said that they are going to be up against it in this match. When they bat well they are generally tough to beat but they haven’t batted well enough often enough to have their destiny in their own hands for as long as they would have wanted it. Nevertheless, it only takes someone in the top four to have a night out and you just never know in this format.
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Key Players
Sam Curran was the best player in The Hundred which concluded recently. If he can offer big things with the bat or the ball in this match then you would imagine he will have Surrey well on the way to finals day.
It is hard to see how Durham are competitive here unless Colin Ackermann has a night out. Ideally that will come with the bat in hand but if he has to deliver with the ball instead then so be it. He needs a big match though.
Betting
Readers who have followed me throughout the Blast will already have an interest in Durham having backed them before a ball was hit in this tournament and while I agree they are clear second favourites for this match there is no real chance to hedge out so we just have to let that ride and hope that someone has a day out for them or Surrey have a bad day at the office. If the day out is to come I would imagine it would come through Colin Ackermann.
I’m a little surprised that we can get a performance line on the Durham batter as low as 23.5. I would have thought that would be closer to his run line but even if he doesn’t bowl in the match he could easily snatch a catch which would wipe out almost half of what is required. I think he will cover this with the bat though. He has been in decent form with the bat for much of the summer, averaging a smidgeon under 30 with it in the Vitality Blast and a nudge over 45 in the 50 over competition. We’re expecting a short boundary here with the Test match beginning on this ground in three days so there are enough reasons to like Ackermann to cover this line regardless of whether he bowls or not.
Tips
Back C.Ackermann’s Performance – Over 23.5 points for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
