There is one match in the NatWest T20 Blast on Tuesday evening and it comes from Grace Road as Leicestershire take on Nottinghamshire in a passionate midlands derby in the North Group.
Nottinghamshire are cruising into the quarter finals and won’t have given up hope of making it there in top spot after a demolition of Worcestershire on Saturday while Leicestershire’s defeat in front of the cameras on Sunday means they really are drinking in the last chance saloon now.
Leicestershire
Leicestershire haven’t been able to find any consistency in this format at all and that is becoming more and more of a concern as the matches begin to run out. That inconsistency was never more apparent than the weekend just passed as they thrashed Derbyshire by nine wickets and were then given a bit of a beating up at Durham.
Their batting fires one match but not the next and their bowling is on song one game and then goes AWOL next time out. Andrew McDonald must be pulling his hair out but perhaps now Leicestershire know that it is do or die their minds will be more focused and they will put in a big performance.
Nottinghamshire
The Trent Bridge side started their campaign quite slowly but they have hit full pelt in recent weeks and will be buzzing going into this match after destroying Worcestershire at the weekend with what was almost a perfect performance.
In that match they adapted to the conditions quickly with the ball and then were belligerent with the bat in their hands and the way they batted showed us just how much confidence they have at the minute and even if they do get into struggles they have the players to get them out of it which adds another dimension to things.
Team News
Leicestershire remain without the injured Niall O’Brien while his brother remains on international duty with Ireland so misses this match. Overseas duo Farhaan Behardien and Clint McKay will be crucial for the Foxes here.
Nottinghamshire will be without Jake Ball and Alex Hales who are away with England for the foreseeable future but Luke Fletcher returns for Ball and he isn’t the worst replacement. Harry Gurney and Greg Smith return to their former home ground.
Betting
Nottinghamshire are the warm favourites and they are shortening all the time which is understandable given the way the two sides played in their TV matches over the weekend but we should expect Leicestershire to be better than what they showed in that match back on home soil.
The question is whether their improvement will be enough to bridge the enormous gap between the two over the weekend and I’m not so sure it will. It wasn’t just that Nottinghamshire beat Worcestershire at home but they dominated the leaders Northants away from home and you have to say the Outlaws are going along really well at the minute.
Leicestershire did pick up a massive win on Friday night and they needed it but that was only against Derbyshire who are pretty poor in this format so I’m not sure how much we can take from that win I have to say.
I was really impressed with Nottinghamshire on Saturday and I expect them to have too much power with the bat and the ball for Leicestershire here. I’ll take them to win and cover what isn’t the biggest looking handicap in this one.
Tips
VOID – Back Nottinghamshire (-4.5wickets/16.5runs) to beat Leicestershire for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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