The North Group continues to be the focus of attention in the NatWest T20 Blast on Wednesday evening when Yorkshire host Durham at Headingley in a huge match in the race for quarter final places.
Durham can almost ensure a spot in the last four with a win here but so tight is the table they might almost eliminate themselves with a defeat. Yorkshire need to win to keep their hopes in their own hands so this one couldn’t be set up any better.
Yorkshire
The White Rose County have been involved in some really close matches in this tournament in recent times. They lost with two balls to spare at Trent Bridge on Friday night and their five matches prior to that were all settled by six runs or less so if this goes tight then Yorkshire have plenty of experience on their side.
The quality of their bowling attack and the relative weakness of their batting depth is a large reason for that. On the flip side of that they know that if they do manage to put up a big score there is every chance they are going to defend it which gives them some breathing space.
Durham
Durham have plenty of positivity going into this match too. They have won their last three matches in this competition and they arrive here off the back of winning a high quality match in the County Championship on Tuesday so this should be a side full of confidence and ready to press on.
In that run of wins they have had in this competition no side has put more than 150 up against them and with the batting depth they have at their disposal they are always likely to win matches if they are chasing totals as low as that so the onus will be on their attack to restrict Yorkshire again.
Team News
Yorkshire will be without Adil Rashid for this match after he was called into the England Test squad while Kane Williamson’s stint as overseas player has ended now leaving Travis Head to do those duties on his lonesome.
Durham will be without Ben Stokes after he was called back up for England but Paul Collingwood played in the Championship match against Lancashire and came through it ok and might well feature in this one.
Headingley
There have been five matches here this season with one of them washed out but in the other four only Leicestershire have put up a total of 160 or more so this hasn’t been the highest scoring ground in the competition it has to be said. Three of the four matches have been won by the side batting first which is another indication that the wicket hasn’t always been fantastic in this tournament.
Betting
Yorkshire have gone very short in the run up to this match and I’m not sure I see why in truth. Neither of these sides are overly consistent and neither do much to really convince me in this format but it is hard to argue the recent consistency of Durham Jets to the extent that they look really good value here.
In truth I don’t see too much between these two sides so the difference could be the batting depth that Durham have and should Collingwood play that depth contains plenty of quality too it has to be said. There isn’t a huge amount between the two bowling attacks so on that depth and given the prices I’m with the Jets here.
Tips
Back Durham to beat Yorkshire for a 4/10 stake at 2.40 with Unibet
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