The Metro Bank One Day Cup continues on Tuesday with one more match and for the second time in as many days someone is going to see their campaign come to an end from a competitive stance when Surrey play host to Gloucestershire at The Oval.
These two teams have played two and lost them both and sit in the bottom two spots in the Group B table so another defeat here will be fatal for their qualifying hopes. The live stream that Surrey offer is the way to view this one.
Surrey
Surrey are always going to be disadvantaged going into this tournament when you consider the players that they have away with England and at The Hundred but they actually looked a little stronger on paper than in previous seasons because England have moved on from one or two players. That hasn’t stopped them from losing their opening two games and losing them pretty heavily too. They have both been at home so it is a tough route to qualify from here.
Surrey probably should have won the opening match against Yorkshire but couldn’t quite get over the line in the run chase but they were comprehensively outplayed from start to finish in the second game against Glamorgan and they need a huge improvement on that if they are going to get back into this competition. The weird thing is that even though they have three England internationals within their batting order, it has been the batting which has let them down so far.
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire would have gone into this competition quietly fancying their chances after The Hundred teams largely left them alone but for three players, one of whom was only called up as cover who has now returned to the squad. They would have expected to be going better than no win in their opening two matches and they have left themselves with plenty of work to do, although they haven’t had their net run rate destroyed which could be important.
Gloucestershire will know that they should have won their opening match. They were all over Glamorgan and had all the advantages they could possibly have needed but couldn’t get over the line when it mattered. There seemed to be a lingering effect from that defeat in their second match when they went down to Essex, again having restricted their opposition to a score that looked chaseable with the players they have at their disposal with the bat.
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Key Players
Ben Foakes was somewhat controversially left out of the England Test side but their loss is the gain of Surrey and the experienced keeper-batter will be looked upon to deliver the sort of innings that can lead Surrey to victory.
Miles Hammond is the sort of aggressive opening batter who can taken advantage of the powerplay. He missed the competition last year as he had a deal in The Hundred but his team need a good start from him to lead them towards a win here.
Betting
I’m not sure I want either of these teams carrying my money in truth. I do think Gloucestershire will win the match but I’ve been burnt backing them in this competition already and I don’t need that to happen again, especially as Surrey do have players who if they come off and have a day out could certainly make it hard work for the Bristol outfit if not actually go on and win the game. I’ll head to the side markets for a bet on this one.
That comes in the top Surrey bowler offering where I like the 7/2 on Cameron Steel to be the man to claim the most wickets. He has done that in the only innings he has bowled in during this competition so far. That came against Yorkshire where rain impacted that match so he didn’t even have conditions to suit either. He should have conditions much more suited to leg spin here. This is the third Metro Bank match at The Oval in the last five days and there was a match in The Hundred here just a week ago so there has been quite a lot of use of The Oval square. Temperatures are expected to get well above 30 degrees in the capital on Tuesday so a dry pitch certainly won’t get any quicker. You’ve got to think spin will win here and Steel is the pick of the Surrey spinners so it makes sense to back him here.
Tips
Back C.Steel Top Surrey Bowler for a 2/10 stake at 4.50 with Betfair
