The two semi-finals of the Royal London One Day Cup take place on a Tuesday which is huge for the four counties involved as they look to set themselves up for a shot at the title at Trent Bridge in just over two weeks.
The two semi-finals sees the two sides who won the initial groups in the competition playing host to a side who came through the quarter final on Friday. With The Hundred still ongoing we are once again sent to the streams to follow these games.
Hampshire vs Kent
The pick of the semi-finals is the one at the Ageas Bowl where the last two winners of the Vitality Blast collide in what should be a belting contest as Hampshire, the current holders of that title, host a Kent side who they took the crown from.
These two teams were both in the same group in the initial phase of the competition, a section which Hampshire dominated to book their spot straight through to this semi-final clash. Kent sneaked into third on the final day of the group campaign and then demolished Leicestershire in the quarter final on Friday. The fact Kent have played a high pressure game of cricket on the road might stand them in good stead in this match. We also have that tasty battle that makes cricket so good in a good bowling attack which Hampshire possess against a strong batting unit that have served Kent so well. Hampshire took Kent to the cleaners in the group stage when they ran up 396/5 which was never getting chased down. This one is likely to be closer though and that is reflected in the odds. I’ll leave the match betting alone but as a Hampshire fan I know only too well how much Alex Blake likes batting against them. He regularly fills his boots and has already top scored against them in this competition. He has a good record in general at the Ageas Bowl so the 6/1 on him leading the Kent run scoring will do for me in this match.
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Sussex vs Lancashire
The other semi-final sees two sides who are no strangers to lifting white ball silverware over the course of the last 20 years or so meeting when Sussex welcome Lancashire to what is likely to be a packed out County Ground in Hove.
Sussex surprised a lot of people to run out winners of their initial group but in their last match they piled on 400 against Middlesex so anyone writing them off for this game just because all of their bowlers have disappeared to The Hundred should think again. Cheteshwar Pujara is one of the best overseas players in the competition who has played in the biggest matches in the game. His experience can lead his side to good things here. Lancashire are enjoying a fine while ball season and having had the agony of losing that Vitality Blast final in the heart-breaking way that they did they will be doubly motivated to get back to the other white ball final this term. Lancashire might not have the overseas quality that Sussex do and they might be missing a huge amount of white ball talent but they have piled up the runs in recent weeks and got the job done in the field as well. This feels like a very even semi-final where the edge might go to Lancashire who have at least played knockout cricket and succeeded on three occasions this season. I’d edge towards Lancashire but not by enough to justify a bet. The best bet comes in the form of the runs here I suspect. These two top sixes have been scoring runs for fun and aren’t really missing anyone from their Championship side while their bowling is missing a lot of resources. Both teams made over 330 in their last match in the competition and I don’t see the run scoring slowing down on a ground designed for high scoring game. I’ll take over 548.5 runs in this one.
Tips
Back A.Blake Top Kent Batter for a 1/10 stake at 7.00 with BetVictor
Back him here:
Back Sussex vs Lancashire – Over 548.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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