The NatWest T20 Blast kicked off in fine style on Friday night with plenty of runs scored on a good opening night for the competition. The tournament continues on Saturday when the defending champions Lancashire get their title defence underway when they host Derbyshire at Old Trafford.
Lancashire
It was second time lucky for Lancashire last year having lost in the final of the tournament the previous year but that alone shows how good they have become in this format of the game and how reliable they are in it.
Lancashire have done well to recruit Martin Guptill for this tournament although he misses out here with IPL commitments. They have been a side who have always based their strategy around their spin attack and that certainly suits them in home matches so they’ll be tough to beat here.
Derbyshire
Derbyshire are the worst side in T20 history in England and that is something they will be desperate to improve on. On the face of it this could be the year they do it too because a young side has had some decent recruiting done to it and if they can build some early confidence and momentum you never know in this format.
As of now though Derbyshire are one of only two sides along with Worcestershire who have never been to finals day and while it is asking plenty for them to go from abject also-rans to finals day attendees in one go some improvement from seasons past will be welcomed.
Team news
Martin Guptill and Jos Buttler both miss out for the champions here as they are on IPL duty while Jimmy Anderson is away with the England side. Alviro Petersen has been named in the squad while Neil Wagner is also around and will play here.
Derbyshire have signed Jimmy Neesham to go with Hamish Rutherford to form a two prong overseas core to the side and with Kiwi international Neil Broom also in the Derbyshire ranks there are some decent cricketers there all of a sudden especially when you add Wes Durston, Wayne Madsen and Chesney Hughes to them.
Old Trafford
This is obviously the first match of the season on this ground in this competition but the venue has staged a couple of Championship matches so far and scores have generally been ok although the swing bowlers have had plenty of joy as you would expect at this time of year.
The limited overs wickets here are probably the best in the country these days. They always have pace and bounce so the batsmen have the ball coming onto the bat but that bounce always keeps the bowlers interested and makes for a good game of cricket.
Betting
I think Lancashire will win this match but I’m never an 8/13 player in this format of the game let alone in the first match both sides have played in the tournament so I will give the match odds a wide swerve and head to the surprisingly many markets which have been priced up considering the match isn’t on television.
The last twice these two have met at Old Trafford, Lancashire have piled up over 200 in high scoring matches and I think we saw on Friday night that the emphasis on good cricket wickets that provide plenty of entertainment have been requested again so I’m expecting to see a fair few runs hit here.
This Derbyshire batting line up has much more power in it than it has done in seasons gone by and while Lancashire lack an out and out big hitter they have a few batsmen who clear the ropes when they get hold of ones so I fancy a few sixes here.
Surprisingly the line for this match is as low as 7.5 and at the price of solid odds against I just can’t avoid a punt. There’s no reason why the wicket shouldn’t play fantastic and there is no reason why the boundaries won’t be accessible.
This just looks a very low line in the current modern day climate even allowing for the fact this ground isn’t the smallest. It certainly isn’t the bigger either so I’m happy to take the overs.
Tips
Back Over 7.5 sixes for a 4/10 stake at 2.35 with Coral
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