Another Friday night sees another round of NatWest T20 Blast matches going on around the country and although the ODI has the TV attention there are still a number of betting opportunities in the seven matches taking place as the tournament moves into the second half of the group stages.
In total we have four matches from the North Group and three from the South and with the weather beginning to clear up for game time we should be getting some really good action.
North Group
The four matches in the North Group sees Durham hosting Yorkshire at the Riverside, Lancashire facing Worcestershire at Old Trafford, Derbyshire taking on Nottinghamshire in a derby clash at Derby and Leicestershire hosting Birmingham.
I don’t see Nottinghamshire losing at Derbyshire but derbies are becoming trickier to call in T20 these days so I will leave that one alone and I’ll also avoid getting involved in the Leicestershire against Birmingham game as you never truly know what wicket will be used and with the rain around there it might not be the easiest batting deck.
Lancashire vs Worcestershire sees two good sides going against each other in a match where I would imagine plenty of spin will be bowled but I think the prices are about right although Worcestershire certainly have a chance if getting back to their form of the start of the campaign.
In the other match I think Yorkshire have to be taken on. Their form with their star players wasn’t great so when you think they will be without Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Liam Plunkett and David Willey who are all with England and you’ve got to think they might struggle here with what is going to be a very young squad.
Yorkshire struggled much more than we would have expected in the Championship against Durham this week and that could be an indication of what to expect here. If Durham needed a boost they have it in the form of Ben Stokes being made available and he can bring even more power to a big hitting batting line up. I’m not the biggest fan of Durham in T20 but I think they look good here.
South Group
The three matches in this ground on Friday night sees the leaders Glamorgan hosting Surrey in Cardiff, Kent hosting Middlesex at Canterbury and Essex facing Hampshire at Chelmsford in what should be really competitive games. Kent and Middlesex both miss a number of players so I’ll leave that game alone even though I fancy Kent there given Middlesex’s schedule.
Glamorgan are absolutely flying in one day cricket this season and that can continue against Surrey on Friday night. It is Dale Steyn’s final match for the club so he will want to go out on a high and along with van der Gugten, Hogan and Wagg they make up this really strong Glamorgan bowling attack.
We’ve already seen Glamorgan take Surrey to the cleaners in this tournament this season and Surrey had Jason Roy then. They don’t have him here so that is a further advantage to Glamorgan. The Welsh outfit are going very well with bat and ball and can send Steyn off to the CPL in winning style.
Essex and Hampshire are propping up the rest in the table at the minute but I think Essex can get a much needed win on Friday night. Essex are under a little less pressure in that they’ve played less matches than anyone else in the group and their sole win so far came against Glamorgan which shows when they click they can beat good sides.
Hampshire have been wretched in this tournament to date. Their only win came against Kent in a match they should have lost as at one stage Kent were cruising before they imploded. Batting has been the problem for Hampshire. They have been bowled out in four of their completed six matches and that is a ridiculous statistic for any side let alone one as good as they have been down the years.
Hampshire are without James Vince again for this one and Sean Ervine’s captaincy is yet to set the world alight. Essex are without Wahab Riaz now but he didn’t offer much apart from a serious leakage of runs when he was there so that is no bad thing. These two met in the 50 over competition earlier in the season when Essex won a high scoring game. I fancy them to win this one too.
Tips
WON – Back Durham to beat Yorkshire for a 4/10 stake at 2.05 with Boylesports
Back them here:
WON – Back Glamorgan to beat Surrey for a 4/10 stake at Unibet
Back them here:
WON – Back Essex to beat Hampshire for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Ladbrokes
Back them here:
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