The quarter finals of the NatWest T20 Blast take place this week with spots at Edgbaston very much the order of the day for the eight sides involved. The opening match of the knockout stages sees the runners up in the South Group – Sussex taking on Northamptonshire who finished third in the North Group.
These sides have something in common in this format of the game. Both have won this tournament at Edgbaston so a return there for finals day would be a big thing for both sides. Only one can get there though which adds to the intrigue.
It isn’t very often both sides go into the same match under real pressure but that is the case for both ahead of this one. In terms of winning something this season Sussex are in the last chance saloon having been blown out in the One Day Cup and given their struggles in the Championship.
Northants could really do with a win here. Their financial position has been well documented in recent weeks so another T20 success and the windfall that comes with it would be helpful in their plight. They have no Championship aspirations these days so they can target both this and the remainder of the One Day Cup.
Sussex did well to come second in the South Group because they never really gave the impression they were in top form. Luke Wright has been a huge player for the Sharks. He has scored more than double the runs anyone else has scored apart from Chris Nash and only two of their bowlers have taken more than nine wickets in this campaign.
Northants started the T20 slowly with three defeats in their opening three matches. Given that start they did awfully well to make it to this stage let alone come third in their group. Unlike Sussex their star performances were shared around with everyone contributing and that might have them in better stead for this match.
I’m already on Northants to win this tournament outright so I’m not going to back them again in this match although I wouldn’t put anyone off them given that they are the ones carrying good momentum into this quarter final with them. They’re enjoying a good One Day Cup run and won a Championship match earlier in the week unlike Sussex who’ve bombed out in the 50 overs and who lost to Middlesex in the four day stuff this week.
For me though the better bet is on there being more than 9.5 sixes here. There has only been one match at Hove in the last two weeks and that was the televised match between Sussex and Middlesex which was a run fest so I’m not expecting this match to be on a used wicket so runs should come freely and the batsmen should have a good time.
The last time Sussex made the quarter finals was in 2012 and they were at home on that occasion and their match with Gloucestershire contained 20 sixes in what was a high scoring match dominated by a Scott Styris ton. There are loads of big hitters on show here and I fully expect to see 10 sixes in this one.
Back Over 9.5 sixes for a 5/10 stake at 1.73 with Stan James
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