The next set of NatWest T20 Blast matches take place on Wednesday evening with a TV match and two other matches away from the cameras as the one day leg of the season comes into full focus much more.
Sussex host Somerset in the TV match while elsewhere Nottinghamshire travel up to Durham and Essex make the trip across the Severn Bridge to take on Glamorgan in Cardiff. We’ll begin our preview with the TV match.
Sussex vs Somerset
The NatWest T20 Blast gets a fair amount of stick but when you see the stars on show in this match this certainly can’t be criticised. Chris Gayle, Luke Wright, Mahela Jayawardena, Chris Jordan, Yasir Arafat, David Wiese, Jim Allenby and Ross Taylor are just some of the big names taking part in what should be a quality contest.
Sussex go into this match off the back of a narrow, rain affected win over Gloucestershire in their opening match of the season. They were without Chris Jordan for that match so they will be pleased to have him back while Luke Wright returns from injury too. The Sharks have also managed to sign David Wiese in place of Mustafiqur Rahman.
Somerset were well beaten by Kent in their first match of this tournament but the reinforcements have arrived in the form of Chris Gayle and Mahela Jayawardena so they will head to Hove in good spirits especially after their epic win in the County Championship in the week. Yasir Arafat returns to his old stomping ground here.
I’ve backed Sussex outright for this tournament so I’ll be hoping they win again here and the more they drift in the weight of support for Somerset now that Gayle has been confirmed as a starter the more I’ll be tempted to back them but I can’t get stuck in just yet.
One bet I do like though comes in the shape of the sixes where with the talent on show on a pretty small ground, especially with Sky’s daft looking pod shrinking it further, should yield plenty of sixes. I’m a little bit surprised that we can get an 11.5 line here. You only have to look back to the quarter final here last year and that spectacular David Willey knock to know what is possible and with the stars of show here I’m expecting at least a dozen sixes.
Durham vs Nottinghamshire
These two sides will know each other well having just played out a four day County Championship match which only finished on Tuesday. That was at Trent Bridge but in a scheduling move that could only happen in England the two now head to Durham for the next instalment.
Durham started the campaign with a mullering at Worcester where Tom Kohler-Cadmore went bonkers on their bowling but they followed that up with a good win against Lancashire last time out. Nottinghamshire have only played one match so far this season which they lost to the Birmingham Bears so they are in need of a victory.
I don’t really have a strong feeling for this match so I’ll sit this one out and see how it goes before hopefully getting involved in the two sides later in the season.
Glamorgan vs Essex
Glamorgan go into this one off the back of that fine win over Surrey last week while Essex have already been beaten by the same opponent and will be looking to fire their tournament into life with a win here.
Since that win at The Oval last week Glamorgan have added Dale Steyn to their ranks so they are likely to be full of firepower for this one. Essex will be without Graham Napier for the match which is less than ideal it has to be said.
You might wonder why Essex are the favourites here given the direct form line through Surrey this season but the reason for it is probably the fact they have won the last seven matches between the two in this format and I feel their medium pacers and pace off the ball bowlers will serve them well here.
Add those change ups to their ultra-strong batting line up and I think we’ve got the makings of another Essex win on Welsh soil here.
Tips
WON – Back Sussex vs Somerset – Over 11.5 sixes for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Unibet
Back them here:
WON – Back Essex to beat Glamorgan for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with Ladbrokes
Back them here:
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